Your Guide to Buying a Home
House shopping is an exciting time! Get pre-approved for a loan first so you can be ready to make an offer when you find a home you love in in Cecil County, MD, New Castle County, DE, or Chester County, PA. Contact Laurel Scott at (443) 907-4326 for personalized assistance throughout your home-buying journey.
Pre-qualified vs Pre-approved
Pre-Qualified
In order to be pre-qualified, a lender may or may not check your credit score and won't require documentation, only going off what you tell them. This will give you an idea of what you could qualify for, but when you're serious about buying, you'll need to get pre-approved.
Pre-Approved
To be pre-approved, the lender will pull your credit and ask you for documentation to verify your finances. Before making an offer on a house, you must get pre-approved to show sellers your offer is serious - you CANNOT submit an offer without a pre-approval letter (unless you are paying cash).
House Hunting Tips
Tips for Finding Your Ideal Home
Investigate the Area
Drive around neighborhoods that interest you to get a feel of the area, how the homes are cared for, what traffic is like, etc.
Ask Around
Talk to family, friends, and co-workers to see if anyone might know of a house for sale in an area you're interested in. One of them may even know of someone who's thinking about selling but hasn't put the house on the market yet.
Keep an Open Mind
Finding your dream home isn't always an easy task! Have a priorities list but keep an open mind when viewing houses.
Take Pictures & Notes
When you visit multiple houses it gets difficult to remember specific details about each one. Take photos and notes while touring houses so that you can reference them later when comparing the properties that you've seen.
Be Ready to Make an Offer
When you find a home you want to buy, keep in mind there may be others interested in it as well. Be ready to make a solid offer quickly in order to have the best chance at getting that home.
Making an Offer
Factors That Can Make an Offer More Enticing
When we have found a home that you're interested in buying, we will quickly and strategically place an offer.
Put In a Competitive Offer
We will decide on a reasonable offer price based on the following:
- Current market conditions
- Comparable properties recently sold in the area
- The property value of the house
- The current condition of the house
Pay in Cash vs. Loan
Paying in cash versus taking out a loan offers a faster closing timeline and fewer chances of issues arising, making it more appealing to sellers.
Put Down a Larger Deposit
An offer that includes a larger earnest money deposit presents a more serious and competitive offer.
Inspections
Although I will always advise you to get inspections, sellers do find offers with minimal to no inspections more attractive. We can also set a threshold for repairs so the seller knows you are only focused on major repairs.
Appraisal
Offering a specific amount of money over the appraised value gives the seller the guarantee to make more profit.
Offer a Shorter Closing Timeline
An offer with a shorter timeframe for closing is generally more attractive to sellers over one with an extended time period with a house sale contingency. A typical closing timeframe is 30-45 days.
