The Home Buyer's Guide

1. Analyze your wants and needs. Describe your ideal home. What are your must-haves, and when do you need to be in the home? A wants-and-needs list helps. No home is perfect, but prioritizing helps us find the best match.

2. Get pre-approved. Getting pre-approved before you start looking shows you what you can comfortably afford and lets us move quickly when the right home appears. It shows sellers you're serious, saves you time, and can help in a multiple-offer situation.

3. Meet with your agent and select properties. Tell me what you're looking for and I'll build the search. Take photos and notes as you tour, so you can compare homes later. Keep a priorities list, and keep an open mind.

4. Write an offer and negotiate. Be ready to move quickly. Know whether it's a seller's or a buyer's market, and have your earnest money deposit, proof of funds for your down payment and closing costs, and your pre-approval letter ready. After we present your offer, the seller will accept it, reject it or counter. I negotiate the terms for you.

5. Offer accepted: inspections and contingencies. Your contract may be contingent on financing and the appraisal, on a professional inspection, or on the sale of your current home. The inspection shows whether the home has dangerous or costly defects, and then you can back out, ask the seller for repairs, or negotiate a lower price and handle the repairs yourself. Your earnest money goes into an escrow account managed by a neutral third party, and it counts toward your down payment at closing.

6. Your lender finishes the loan. That includes a credit check, underwriting, an appraisal and insurance. Then contingencies are removed, and we renegotiate first if we need to.

7. Final steps and closing. Most lenders require both homeowner's insurance and title insurance, so compare quotes. Your lender must give you a Closing Disclosure with your final loan terms and costs at least three days before closing. Within 24 hours of closing, and before you sign, we do a final walkthrough to confirm that nothing was damaged since the inspection, that agreed repairs are done, and that nothing was removed from the home. On closing day, bring a government-issued photo ID, your homeowner's insurance certificate, certified funds or a cashier's check (or a wire you arranged ahead of time), and the final purchase agreement. If you're wiring money, verify the wiring instructions directly with the escrow company before you send anything. Once you sign and the deed is recorded, ownership transfers to you.

Even well-qualified buyers make costly mistakes without guidance. The common ones are:

• Falling in love with a home before the numbers make sense.
• Underestimating the cash needed to close.
• Waiving contingencies without understanding the risk.
• Focusing only on the monthly payment instead of the total cost.
• Ignoring resale value and long-term marketability.

Until the purchase is complete, don't make a major purchase, buy or lease a car, change jobs, miss a bill payment, open a line of credit or move money around. Any of these can put your loan approval at risk, and lenders usually run a final credit check before closing.

Local details matter too. Buying in Northern California can involve Mello-Roos taxes, HOA rules and reserves, the differences between new construction and resale homes, and neighborhood-specific market trends. I help you sort through them, town by town, starting with Vacaville.