Fort Lauderdale Home Purchasing Guide Hero

Living Las Olas

When you’re ready to make a real estate purchase in Fort Lauderdale, consider a few guidelines that will help make the experience less stressful and more fun. If you still have more questions, call or email Gavin for help!

First-Time Buyers

It’s an exciting time in everyone’s life when they decide to purchase there first home, but the process can be intimidating. The knowledge needed to buy your first home will include learning about several different professional industries; including the mortgage, real estate, inspection, appraisal, title, and insurance industries. Gavin can alleviate the intimidating process of home buying and make the entire transaction a smooth one. The more you know the more fun and excitement you will get out of purchasing your first home and you can find that knowledge here on Living Las Olas. Our Fort Lauderdale Home Purchasing Guide below should help clear up many unanswered questions.


 

Fort Lauderdale Home Purchasing Guide

Decision & Evaluation

The first thing when considering the purchase of a home/property investment, should evaluate your current position. The needs you have for yourself and/or family, the financial investment & commitment, the location & community and long term goal for your real estate home or investment. You may not be able to arrive at a definitive answer to all the questions buy you will have a better understanding of where you need to go. Like most people the search starts online and I encourage you to do so. The Living Las Olas website was made for that purpose, but keep in mind, your needs, price, location and commitment and try not to stray too far from these goals.

Gain Ability to Purchase Real Estate

Now that you have had some time to evaluate your needs, spend some time on research and decided it’s time to move forward you should start by obtaining a pre-approval or proof of funds document if you plan to pay cash. This is an important step to the home buying process. You will now know exactly where you stand and how much home you can purchase. The pre-approval is like “cash” when it comes time to making an offer. You will be taken more seriously than those without one and this gives you a better opportunity of acquiring the house that you want. Just because you have this document doesn’t mean you have to purchase, it opens up the ability to act. Gavin can give you Lender recommendations if you need them and you can get more information about mortgages on the Living Las Olas Fort Lauderdale Home Mortgages page.

Stay Focused

Purchasing a home can sometimes be an emotional one, especially for the first time home buyer. There are a lot of homes out there and you may “fall in love,” with the perfect home. If everything goes as planned than all the better, but situations can arise such as multiple offers to contend with or problems with the inspection and the home of your dreams is gone! It’s best not to get too caught up in one property until you’re well on your way to closing. Purchasing a home can often have some compromises unless you’re Bill Gates, so remember to stay focused on your goals that you set out from the start of finding a home. Set their individual levels of priority and then weigh them out. Once you’re finished with the Fort Lauderdale Home Purchasing Guide, feel free to search for properties right here.

Offer, Inspect & Close

When you found the right home it’s time to make an offer and this can either be accepted or go into negotiation with the seller. It is customary to provide earnest payment deposit when making an offer and this communicates to the seller that you are serious about purchasing the home. The negotiation experience can both be fun and stressful at the same time and with a little luck, everything will move onward to inspections. Typically inspections by default are required within 10 calendar days unless stated otherwise in the contract. Upon successful completion of the home inspection you just need to provide the proper documentation to the mortgage and title company and wait for closing.

Closing Costs

After an extensive search, you’ve finally found your new Fort Lauderdale Home and you’re finally closing your home should be exciting, and once you understand the process and how it works, it can be. Below is a list of costs commonly associated with closing on a home. All closing costs must be listed on your HUD-1 settlement form, a document that is required to be filled out prior to finalizing the purchase of your home. Further details regarding closing costs can be found through Living Las Olas’s Venice of America: News & Articles Page.

  • Real Estate Broker Commission/Fees
  • Loan Fees – Direct Loan Costs
  • Items Required by the Lender to be paid in advance
  • Escrows/Impounds/Reserves
  • Title and Closing Charges
  • Recording/Government Filing Fees
  • Other, Miscellaneous Charges

Hopefully this Fort Lauderdale Home Purchasing Guide is of use to you. If there is anything you don’t understand, do not hesitate to contact us.

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