Take advantage of the services of a Realtor acting in your behalf as a Buyer Agent.

This is at no cost to you and since a Seller will have his or her own agent -- shouldn't you?

SANDI'S SUGGESTIONS

Contact a qualified lender and start the pre-approval process for a mortgage.
I will assist you in doing this if you have not done so already. This should be done before or as you are looking for the "perfect house." This is beneficial no tonly in helping you to decide on a price range, but being a pre-approved or pre-qualified buyer presents you as a more viable buyer to the seller, thus giving you an added bit of negotiating room.

The pre-approved buyer is more attractive to the Seller's agent than one who has not met with a Lender.

Identify the type of property that interest you and try to prioritize your needs.
As your buyer's agent, I will do a thorough search based on this criteria. I will pull printouts (with photos when available) of all properties that match your criteria. After you have selected the ones you want to see, I will schedule appointments for us to tour these homes.

When you have selected a property on which you want to make an offer, I will "run comps."
This means searching for comparable properties in the area. This allows us to make an informed judgement as to what kind of offer to present to the seller based on recent sales in that immediate market.

As we proceed to write an offer, I will go over the entire Offer to Purchase and Contract with you.

This ensures that you understand exactly what it means. We will be identifying to the Seller:

• How much we are offering
• What (if any) closing closts we want them to pay
• The type of mortgage we will get
• What personal property we want
• When we want inspections done
• When we want to close the sale.

I will present this offer to the Seller's Realtor, who will then present it to his or her client.
The Listing (Seller's) agent will advise the client and will be looking to receive the best possible terms for the Seller, as I, your Buyer's Agent, will do for you. Any and all counteroffers or negotiations of terms will be communicated from agents to their respective clients.

Once you and the Seller have agreed on a purchase price, we will prepare for closing.

I will help you select a professional home inspector, a termite inspection company, a real estate attorney and any other professionals that are needed to assist us in the purchse of your property. The home inspector will thoroughly inspect the mechanical and structural components of the house, and submit to us a written report of his findings outlining any defects or problems found.

After receiving the home inspection report, we will decide what -- if anything -- we want the Seller to repair or replace.
I will outline your requests, present this to the Listing agent, along with a copy of our inspection report. The Seller then has a number of options:

• Fix all the problems
• Make an allowance to do so
• Refuse to do some or all of the repairs.

If they refuse, we have the right to accept the property anyway or cancel the contract.

During this entire process, I will be in constant contact with the attorney, lender, all of the inspectors and any other parties affiliated with the transaction.
The process, from offer to closing, often takes 30-45 days. This time allows me to intercept most, if not all of the headaches associated with the process. I will coordinate every aspect of the transaction, right down to helping you change over utilities when you move, leaving you with the peace of mind necessary to move your family.

I will review closing statements with you to make sure all figures are within expected parameters.

I will be with you at the closing.

Throughout the process, I will provide you with any assistance anyway I can, especially helping you to understand what is going on as it occurs. By my keeping you informed and up-to-date with all phases of the purchase process, you will discover how fun and exciting buying a home is!

At anytime during the process, do not hesitate to call me with any questions you might have. There are no such things as silly questions when you are making a purchase of this magnitude. I can't stress enough...CALL CALL CALL whenever you want or need anything.

I will make myself very accessible to you.

If I don't have an answer, I assure you that I will get one, and respond to you promptly.

Don't forget: I work for YOU!