I found my Realtor

I found the Realtor that I'm going to use. "Girl" was great and knew what I was looking for and has years of experience. I felt completely comfortable while I was in her office and told her I would like to use her.

I went to her office and someone kindly brought me water even though they weren't meeting with me. She came in and told me about herself and her organization. I introduced myself and my wants/needs. She has worked in my price range before and knows it can be a tough one because things go fast. Beyond her credentials, I felt very comfortable with her and trusted her instantaneously.

So my next step it to get pre-qualified. I'll work on that this week and see how it goes. I have three places in mind and I will make sure I do it all within a 14 day period as recommended in my classes. Once I get pre-qualified I will contact "girl" and get looking at homes. YAY!

The first meeting

I met with a the Realtor that I will call "guy." Guy was great at introducing what he will do if I choose him as a Realtor. He explained the MLS service and how you can find things on it. He talked about his experience as a Realtor and his philosophy that he uses to approach purchasing a home.
Some of his suggestions:
--take time to learn the market
--give yourself time to find a home
--know what you can afford
--know what you can give on (Ex: if you want a big kitchen but don't find one, maybe you should get a slightly small one than you prefer)

He mentioned that I might have a harder time finding what I'm looking for because of my price range. As odd as I thought the meeting might be because I'm "interviewing" him, it really went well and I felt calm and comfortable. Some of my concerns are that he hasn't been a Realtor very long, my price range is the lowest that he's worked with, and he's only purchased one home (but negotiated more).

I do like his business sense around Real Estate. He approaches it with an MBA standpoint and want the buyer to get the best deal for their money. He wants the buyer to go in with equity.

I set up a meeting with the other Realtor I planned on meeting with for tomorrow evening. I will call this Realtor "girl". I'll let you know what I think about "girl" tomorrow.

The questions I have for the Realtor interview

I put together a list of questions I intend on asking the Realtor I'm interviewing tomorrow. I honestly don't know if interviewing them is the best way to "shop" Realtors, but I can't think of a better idea.
So here's the list so far:
How long have you been a Realtor?
Are you typically a buyer’s agent or a seller’s agent?
What are your fees?
What can you offer that another Realtor can’t?
What price range do you typically work with?
What areas do you typically work in?
Can you explain the MLS system to me?
Is the MLS the only way to search for homes?
How long does it typically take for someone to find their home?
What is the process to look at (tour) homes?
What would you say are the trademarks of a good Realtor?

Questions...

Now that I'm just waiting to meet with a Realtor I'm starting to ask myself if this is really what I want to do. I see so many positives and there are a few negatives, but I think the positives out weigh them.

Is the new place safe?
Will I be able to do it financially?
Is there anything out there that's good for me?

I definitly feel uncertain about some things, but each of those questions has a logical answer.

I can check the crime reports to see if the area is safe or not.
I know my budget inside and out so I know what I can afford, but I still want to make sure.
I did see a few places online today that looked like possibilities.

I suspect most everyone has a few second thoughts before they buy the most expensive thing they have ever purchased. I'll still be meeting with the Realtor on Monday so I guess I haven't been detered.

Appointment with Realtor and document gathering

At the HUD approved homeownership trainging I recieved a list of everything I will need to take with me to get pre-approved or to attain a home loan. I've been slowly working through the check list gathering needed data.

I've always been a renter and one of the requirements is to have a letter from everyone you rented from stating you paid on time, how much you paid in rent, and the dates you lived there. I called my current landlord and he'll write the letter for me. I've just got to call my previous landlord.

Other documents they want are two years of taxes. So instead of going and just making photo copies of them I actually decided to digitize all my tax documents for the last two years. This way I have a back up that I keep in a safe place.

There are other documents you should have, but most of those are easy to get so I'm not worried.

I did talk with one Realtor yesterday and have a meeting set up for Monday. I told him that I was looking to see if he was the Realtor for me. I'm working on getting the contact information of the other Realtor I plan on talking with.

The Utah IDA Network

I realized after my first post that many people might wonder what the Utah IDA Network is. The Utah IDA Network (UIDAN) helps people under 200% of the federal poverty level purchase a first home, education, or small business. They require a personal financial managment class prior to comeing into their program. Once in the program they match your money three dollars for every 1 dollar you put in towards the purchase of one of those items. The maximum benefit from the program is $6000 and you must be in the program from 1-3 years. You can go to their website at www.uidan.org to learn more.

The Beginnings

In the last month I’ve been seeing many Utah IDA Network savers purchasing affordable homes with affordable payments. I’ve seen several with mortgage payments around $600/mo. I currently pay $525 in rent for a one bedroom apartment.

As much as being a single woman makes life more interesting, I decided to complicate everything by looking into purchasing a home. I started out thinking it was a crazy idea, but did some more thinking and realized it could be very doable. Who can resist when mortgage rates are so low and affordable housing is out there! Thus I began to ponder the idea of owning a home. What would it look like? What would I do to make the payments? What other items would I need to purchase just after buying a home (lawn mower, etc.)? After thinking for quite a while I realized I could potentially reduce my overall housing cost if I purchased a two bedroom for less than $700/mo. and charged at least $200 in rent. GO FIGURE!

At that point I decided to take the HUD Approved first time homeowners course offered through CDC Utah. I took it in a one day format. We covered budgeting, searching for homes, what a realtor does, loan documents, what we can expect time wise, etc. I found it informative on the particular documents related to purchasing a home. They stressed that your Realtor is your employee and if you don’t like them, fire them. They also said to shop around and get three banks to pre-qualify you within a 14 day time period. This will help you before you get started to know what the bank says you can afford. In all likelihood you should probably buy less than they qualify you for. Once you have a price range go look at homes. One suggestion was to make a list of 10 important items to have in your home. See if each home has those items. If it has at least 7-8 make an offer because you will likely not find one with everything you’re looking for.

Once you make an offer you will be highly reliant on your real estate agent to do the paperwork. Make sure that your offer includes anything you want in the home. If you want the refrigerator or washer/dryer make sure this gets listed. They can always choose to not include them, but if you want them give it a shot.

The analogy that they used to describe the next portion was a volleyball match where one side sends an offer then the other side sends it back either with a counter offer or a rejection.

Once all is said and done and your offer is accepted you begin all the inspections and appraisals etc. Then the paper work begins and you “sign your life away.”
Be sure to get your final settlement statement before your closes (you’re entitled to it 24 hours in advance, but may not get it that far out) and compare it with your good faith estimate to see what fees or other items changed. If all is good, sign the documents and close on your home. Interesting side note, you probably won’t walk away with the keys until a few days after your “closing.” The home is not yours until it’s recorded with the county.

I do have a one on one housing counseling session to attend still, so I might learn more there. I know they cover budgets and credit reports more extensively during that time.

Now I will see if this process is at all like they talked about….

So after learning all this I know of two Realtors that I will interview and see who will be the best at finding a home for me.