Interview real estate agents and find one that meets your needs, and you feel you can have and ongoing relationship with. You will be calling them even after you purchase a home. After you choose an agent, you will sit down with them and discuss your home requirement needs, wants, and ability to financially purchase. If you haven't already done so, ask your agent for three lender references and fill out three applications. In order to compare apples with apples, ask each lender for a "Good Faith Estimate" and compare them. You can only compare them if you request the same type of loan, for the same amount of money for the same terms, i.e; 30 year term loan, for $210,000.



I always pick three homes I think my buyer clients have conveyed to me that are "close" to what they are looking for. I try to tell them these are just trial visits so I can ask a thousand questions to define better what they are looking for in Phoenix from the MLS, or Chandler, Ahwatukee or Gilbert, AZ. Once we get through this process, then the agent working for the buyer can narrow down the search and show homes more honed in to the buyer's wants and needs.

Once a buyer finds a home they like, if they are working with an agent who has been showing them homes on the Phoenix MLS, they write a standard Arizona Offer to Purchase Contract. During this time he or she will take you through the contract a paragraph at a time to explain the meaning of each paragraph. Particularly important will be the "contingency" paragraphs any of which would allow you to get out of the contract should one of the contingencies not be fulfilled. After agreeing on a purchase price and signing the agreement to purchase, your agent will present the offer to the seller's agent and possibly the seller's themselves.

The Seller then has three options. Accept the offer, give a counter offer, or decline the offer without a counter agreement. If there is a counter offer, you and your agent will decide on the next course of action, and again you would have three options, accept, offer another counter, or reject the counter, and so on.

Once accepted, your agent will open escrow usually with the earnest deposit you agreed to offer as good faith that you were going through with the sale. The Escrow Company is a neutral third party that will receive and disburse all funds and documents according to the instructions given to them.

Contingency Periods. Contingencies allow for something to happen within a period of time, and when that thing does occur, you may have the option of being released from the contract getting your full earnest deposit back. Some of the contingency periods include: Receipt and acceptance of the Seller's Property Disclosure Statements, Approval of a Preliminary Title report, Loan Approval including an appraisal of the property, Physical and Pest Inspections of the property. After all contingencies have been fulfilled, you only have to get Home Owner's Insurance, any down payment funds (cashiers check or money wire transfer), and then close escrow.

Easy, you just bought a home!