The How-To Guide to Buying a Home in Tucson
Get Preapproved for a Loan
The most important first step towards buying a home is to get comfortable with the money side of the transaction. Being pre-approved for a loan by a local lender is very easy to do, and you’re going to need it in order to write a solid offer once we find the right home. Check out the Financing page for recommendations of good lenders here in Tucson. Give them a call, get pre-approved, and we can start shopping.
Find a Home
There are many ways to find the right home. Most people start their search online, looking through listings in the MLS. The home search on this site will show you everything available via the Tucson MLS. Some people like to identify an idea area first, and then look for the right home in that neighborhood. You can explore Tucson by neighborhoods here too.
Write an Offer
Once we find the right home, we’ll write an offer to purchase that home. We’ll do some research together to decide what market value for the home might be, and then we’ll craft an offer based on how you want to negotiate. You’ll need to bring your checkbook so that you can write an Earnest Money check. The Seller can accept, reject, or counter your offer, and you can do the same to the Seller’s response. Negotiations continue in this manner until either everyone agrees or until someone rejects the response. If everyone agrees, we open escrow and start inspections. Otherwise, we go back to looking for a home.
Inspect the House
Inspections are a vital part of buying a Tucson home. The length of this inspection period is negotiated in the contract, and during that time interval, you’ll hire inspectors and specialists to help you determine the condition of the home and get all your questions answered.
Negotiate Repairs
When we’re done inspecting, we’ll go back to the Seller and ask for repairs, if any are needed. This is a second round of negotiations for the home. The Seller considers your repair request, and can accept, reject, or counter it. If the Seller’s response is acceptable, then you stay in the transaction and move forward to closing. If the Seller’s response is unacceptable, then we take your earnest money (in nearly all cases) and start again with finding a home.
Final Loan Processing
Once we’re through repairs, there’s usually about two weeks where everyone else springs into action. The loan officer puts the loan through final underwriting, reviews the appraisal, produces loan documents, and the Seller has any repairs done that were negotiated.
Walkthrough and Signing
A couple days before the scheduled closing, we’ll go into the escrow office and sign the loan documents and the paperwork that will transfer the property into your name. We’ll go back to the house and do a final walkthrough, to make sure that it is in generally the same condition as when we went under contract. You’ll bring in any remaining funds needed to close – your down payment and closing cost monies.
Closing
Finally! Usually a few days after signing, on the closing date agreed to in the original contract, the escrow officer sends all the documents downtown to record, distributes the money to the appropriate parties, and the property formally becomes yours. Congratulations homeowner!
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