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Page 8 April 5, 2018 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
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teamSKULICK Your Real Estate Connection
NEW LISTING
BRE #01064179 BRE #02034572
Rose VanHook
310-350-5920 Pol Schönhöfer
310-980-5530
John Skulick
310-350-4240
TeamSkulick@gmail.com
BRE # 00946399
4922 Towers
3 bedroom 1 bath W. Torrance fixer
$729,000
NEW LISTING
Coming Soon
302 W Maple
Super cute Spanish 3 bedroom 2 ba, coved ceilings.
Huge detached RV Garage approx. 1000 SQFT
Featuring: Shiela Fowler
Question: What are
the first steps to take or
consider when buying a
new home?
1) Start Your Research Early... Read all
you can about real estate listings; especially,
note the particular homes you are interested
in and see how long they stay on the market.
Note changes in asking prices. This will
give you a sense of the housing trends in
specific areas.
2) Determine How Much House You Can
Afford... Lenders generally recommend that
people look for homes that cost no more than
three to five times their annual household
income if the home buyers plan to make a
20% down payment and have a moderate
about of other debt.
3) Get Pre-Qualified and Pre-Approved
For Your Mortgage... You need to know
how much you can actually spend. The best
way to do that is to get pre-qualified for a
mortgage. To get pre-qualified, you need to
provide some financial information to your
lender such as your income and the amount
of savings and investments you have. Your
lender will review this information and tell
you how much they can lend you. This
will determine the price range of the homes
you should be looking at. You can get preapproved
later, by providing your financial
documents (W-2 statements, paycheck stubs,
bank account statements, etc.). The lender
will also check your credit.
4) Find The Right Real Estate Agent...
Real Estate Agents are important partners
when buying a home. Real estate agents
can provide you with helpful information on
homes and neighborhoods that isn’t easily
accessible to the public. Their knowledge of
the home buying process, negotiating skills
and familiarity with the area you want to
live can be extremely valuable. It doesn’t
cost you anything to use an agent, because
they are compensated from the commission
paid by the seller of the home.
5) Shop For Your Home and Make An
Offer... Start touring homes in your price
range. Take notes on all the homes you visit.
You might want to take pictures or videos to
help your remember. Check out a lot of homes.
Evaluate the neighborhood. Is it conveniently
located near places of interest to you, like
schools, shopping centers, restaurants, parks
and public transportation. Then negotiate with
your real estate agent a fair offer based on
the value of comparable homes. Once you
and the seller have reached agreement on
price, the house will go into escrow. At this
time you will work very closely with your
escrow officer and your real estate agent to
complete all of the remaining steps in the
home buying process.
6) Get A Home Inspection... Your real
estate agent will help you arrange to have a
home inspection within a few days of your
offer being accepted by the seller. This
contingency period protects you by giving
you a chance to renegotiate your offer or
withdraw it without penalty if the inspection
reveals significant material damage.
7) Work With Your Lender to Select
Your Loan... Lenders have a wide range of
competitively priced loan programs. Every
home buyer has their own priorities when
choosing a mortgage. Some are interested
in keeping their monthly payments as low
as possible. Others are interested in making
sure that their monthly payments never
increase. And still others pick a loan based
on the knowledge they will be moving again
in just a few years.
8) Have The Home Appraised... Lenders
will arrange for an appraiser to provide an
independent estimate of the value of the
home. The appraiser is a member of a third
party company and is not directly associated
with the lender. The appraisal will let all
parties involved know that you are paying
a fair price for the home.
9) Coordinate The Paperwork...There
is a lot of paperwork involved in buying a
house. Your escrow officer will arrange the
handling of all paperwork and make sure that
the seller is the rightful owner of the house
you are buying.
10) Close The Sale... At closing, you will
sign all the paperwork required to complete
the purchase, including your loan documents.
It typically takes a couple of days for your
loan to be funded after the loan documents
are returned to the lender. Once money is
delivered to the seller, you are ready to move
into your new home!
CalBRE# 00942595
Shiela Simplifies Sales
310-529-9922
shfowler17@gmail.com