You are thinking of buying a home in Los Angeles, and you don’t know where to start. It seems like an insurmountable task. How much can you afford? In which areas should you look? How will you find your home? How do you make an offer…. and on and on.
It is not as difficult as it seems. This is where a realtor comes in. Find someone you like and trust and put yourself in their hands. They will take most of the load off you.
The first thing the realtor will help you with is finding a mortgage professional with whom you will work to determine your buying power. Here you will have to do some work, getting necessary paperwork together for the mortgage person. Once the price of the house you are buying is established, then your realtor will sit down with you to find out what kind of a home you are looking for. Area, number of rooms, school district, amenities, etc. Then the realtor will start to send you appropriate properties.
You will let your realtor know which properties you would like to see and he or she will set up the appointments. You just have to show up. This will happen over and over until you find THE property on which you want to make an offer.
The realtor will discuss the terms, advise you how to make that offer one that will be accepted, or at the very least encourage a counter offer, and then he or she will write up the offer and all you have to do is sign it. If the offer is accepted, great, if not, and there is a counter, your realtor will advise you on the next step, which hopefully will result in an acceptance.
From then on your realtor will bear the brunt of the work. Talking to the lender to make sure that things are running smoothly and according to plan, setting up inspections, making sure that all the contingencies are met from both sides, and moving the escrow to a successful closing. All you have to do is show up at the inspection and have a working pen to sign the myriad of paperwork. You will have a guide all the way.
If you are buying a home in Los Angeles your realtor will be your right arm. You should just sit back and enjoy the ride.
