What are the steps to buying a home in Arizona?

1. Find a Real Estate Agent. Good job! You've already done step one by finding me!

2. Get pre-qualified. At minimum, you want to have a credit score of 580 or above. To afford a home in the Phoenix Metro area that is livable, you usually need an income of $3000 per month or more. If your credit is 620 or above, you may qualify for down payment assistance and be able to get into a home for no money down! If your credit is lower than 620, you will need a down payment of at least 3.5% of the purchase price. I have a relationship with a lender that provides free financial consultations, so give me a call and I can hook you up!

3. Search for a home. This is the fun part! I can set you up with a subscription that will send you homes that meet your criteria the moment they come on the market

4. Put in an offer

5. Put down earnest money. Once your offer is accepted you will need to put down some earnest money to let the seller know you are serious about the home and plan to go through with the contract. The amount you put down depends on the cost of the home. The higher-priced the home, the more earnest money you may want to put down to let the sellers know you are serious. Usually my clients put down approximately $1000-1500 in earnest money for a $250,000 home. That money always gets applied to the cost of the home at closing. You will need this even if you qualify for Down Payment Assistance.

5. Get an inspection. Once your offer is accepted, we order an inspection on the home. This usually runs you around $400-500, but it is worth every penny! An inspector will look at every inch of the home and let you know what repairs may need to be done. At that point, you decide if you want to ask the seller to make those repairs before the contract closes, whether you want to make them yourself, or whether you just don't want the house anymore. The seller then decides whether they want to make the repairs you requested, they want to give you money to make the repairs yourself, or they want to do nothing and give you the option to either except the house as-is, or back out of the contract. The inspection period is usually around 10 days long and if anything comes up that makes you change your mind about wanting the house during the inspection period, you can back out of the contract and get your earnest money back.

6. Get an appraisal. The appraisal usually costs you around $400-500. The lender will require this before they will fund the loan to make sure the house is worth what you offered on it.

7. Close the deal! Once you get through the inspection period and the appraisal, and the mortgage lender agrees to fund the loan, you have a "closing" which is where you sign all of the documents required. Once everything is signed and the loan is funded, you get the keys and move in! Your first payment usually isn't due until the 2nd month after closing, so if you need some extra time to get everything moved over from one place to the other, you don't have to worry about paying double payments if you start looking a few months early and close on the loan before your lease is up on your old residence.

If you have any more questions on the buying process, please feel free to give me a call at 480-486-3538!