Resources and FAQ

House Buying 101

What To Expect When You Want To Buy a House

PRE-APPROVAL:  Before you even start looking, you should get yourself pre-approved for a loan in Los Angeles.  Please contact me for referrals to honest and reputable mortgage brokers.

IDENTIFYING THE PROPERTY:  We’ll scour L.A. county until we find a place you want to call home.

WRITING THE OFFER:  Once we find the perfect property, we’ll write an offer.  The offer costs you nothing and has five main components:

1. Purchase Price
2. Deposit:  Your deposit is usually equal to 3% of the purchase price and is refundable within the contingency period.  Your offer states what you will put down as a deposit if you open escrow.
3. Loan Amount
4. Contingency Periods:  A contingency period is a contractually specified amount of time during which you are allowed to perform inspections, appraisals and research anything else about the property prior to committing to move ahead with the deal. You can back out of the deal at any time within your contingency period (usually between 7-14 days after escrow is opened) at no cost to you.
5. Escrow Period: Your offer will specify how long of an escrow you wish. 

OPENING ESCROW: The escrow period begins on the day that an offer is accepted and ends on the day that title is transferred and recorded.  Most escrows are 30 days, however, they can be as long or short as a contract specifies.  Note that real estate transactions operate on calendar days, not workdays.

INSPECTIONS: During your contingency period, which begins on the day you open escrow and lasts as long as your contract calls for, you will perform any necessary home inspections and appraisals.

REPORTS AND DISCLOSURES: During your contingency period you will also get an opportunity to review all seller reports and disclosures. 

NEGOTIATIONS: The results of these inspections may prompt you to try to negotiate credits to deal with repair issues.  Once an agreement has been reached between the buyer and seller, contingencies are lifted and you are now liable for your deposit amount should you cancel escrow.

FINAL WALK-THRU: 2-5 days before the close of escrow, you will do a final inspection of the property to verify that it is in essentially the same condition that it was in when escrow was opened and that any work the seller has agreed to do was done.

FUNDING/WIRE: About a week before the schedule close of escrow, you will receive instructions on how to wire any money you are putting down into an escrow account.  The day before closing, you will authorize the wire.  Additionally, your loan will fund into an escrow account.

RECORDING: A representative from your title company will be sent down to the county recorders office to record the new title.  As soon as this happens, the property is officially yours and arrangements can be made to pick up keys.

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