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BUYING YOUR NEW HOME - STEP 4:
WRITING THE OFFER!
In preparing to write an offer on a home, one of the first things we do is to check the comparable home sales in the area.. Price per square foot is only one small part of determining the fair market value of a home, as it relates to others. Other factors include, but are not limited to size and quality of the lot, garage space, is there a finished basement? Basement square footage is NOT included in the square footage of the home, but obviously a finished basement ads to the value of the home. This CMA (comparable market analysis) tells us the price range of sold properties are in the area, what the average time on the market for them has been, and what the average sales price per square foot of the recent solds are. We also have seen a fair amount of properties in person so you will be able to judge one homes’ marketability compared to another home.
We will go through the contract paragraph by paragraph… sometimes line by line. I will explain the terms and you can ask any questions you might have during this time. You will write a check for earnest money,( usually at least 1% of the offer.). This check is written out to the Title company it is cashed ONLY when there is an agreed upon contract .At that time the check is put into a non-interest bearing checking account and the amount of earnest money is credited to you at closing.
After the contract is written I will submit it to the Listing agent. The Listing agent in turn presents it to her clients. We will have placed a deadline on the offer that requires a response by that time.
STEP 5: NEGOTIATIONS AND INSPECTIONS... |