Buyer's Guide

A Step-by-Step First Time Buyer's Guide

Buying a home is one of the most exciting milestones of your life. To prepare yourself for this moment, you need to know what to expect during the process. This step-by-step first time buyer’s guide created by our team will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

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Step 1: Research

Do you already know where you want to buy? If you want a condo, townhome, or single-family home? Which features do you like and dislike? What’s available on the market now? If you answered no to any of these questions, now is the time to start researching. In addition to looking for homes that interest you, also take note of any changes in asking prices. This could give you valuable insight into housing trends in specific neighborhoods and help you when the time comes to make an offer.

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Step 2: Decide on Your Budget

Notice we said to decide on your budget—not determine how much the mortgage company will give you. In many cases, a mortgage company will pre-approve you for more than you’re comfortable spending, which is why you need to determine the monthly payment you feel comfortable with before talking to a lender. This likely includes doing a full household budget and taking into consideration what changes other than a mortgage payment will occur once you move into your new home. If you’ve lived in an apartment or with roommates, you may overlook new expenses like garbage, water, or HOA fees that could easily blow your budget.

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Step 3: Get Prequalified

Just because you think you can afford a certain payment every month doesn’t mean the mortgage company will agree. Just as they may approve you for too large of an amount, they may also approve you for a lesser amount or deny you a mortgage altogether. Lack of time at a job, insufficient credit, past bankruptcies, or other financial issues can cause major problems when trying to secure a mortgage. Before you get your heart set on a home, talk to a mortgage professional to find out what amount you can qualify for. This will also be an advantage when you make an offer on a home, as some sellers won’t entertain offers from those who aren’t already prequalified for a loan.

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Step 4: Choose a Real Estate Agent

Can you shop for, look at, and ultimately make an offer on a home without a real estate agent? Technically yes, but why would you when it costs you nothing for agents like us to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will we help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but we also have a knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where our expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let us show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

Passion & Expertise

Our goal is to provide you with the most personalized service possible, meticulously designed to help you navigate the process of buying your dream home. We are dedicated to understanding your unique needs and preferences, ensuring that every step of the journey is tailored to achieve your ultimate home-buying aspirations.

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Step 5: Find the Right Home

This should be the most enjoyable step of the entire process (other than moving in!). We will arrange showings of homes you’re interested in that are within your price range. Take notes about what you like and don’t like, and make sure to pay attention to details. Turn light switches on and off, open and close doors, and run the faucets in various rooms. Don’t limit your inspection to the home itself. Make sure to take time to explore the neighborhood and keep an eye on traffic at certain times of the day, the parking situation, and how close it is to necessities like schools and grocery stores.

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Step 6: Make an Offer

Once you have selected the perfect home, work with your agent to craft a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes on the market. Depending on what the home is listed at and whether the current environment is a buyer’s or seller’s market, your offer may be below, at, or even above the asking price. We will be able to help you negotiate if you receive a counteroffer and reach an agreement. At this point, the house will go into escrow.

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Step 7: Have the Home Inspected

In most cases, your offer will be contingent on having the home inspected to ensure there is no major structural damage or large repairs needed. We can help you arrange this, and you can schedule it within days of making an offer. If there are no major issues, the process goes to step eight. If there is, you can renegotiate your offer based on what needs to be fixed, or you can withdraw it.

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Step 8: Select Your Loan

Now is the time to go back to the mortgage lender who pre-approved or pre-qualified you and choose your mortgage. You will be presented with various options based on your unique financial situation, including fixed-rate, variable-rate, 15-year, 30-year, or special programs such as VA loans or FHA loans. Work with your mortgage lender to select the option you feel the most comfortable with.

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Step 9: Get a Home Appraisal

Your lender will have your new home appraised so they have their independent value of it. The appraisal is to ensure that all parties involved are paying a fair price for the house.

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Step 10: Finish Paperwork

No one looks forward to all the paperwork involved in buying a home, but it’s a necessary part of the process. Fortunately, everything will be arranged by your lender and title company and, when you’re finished, you’ll know you are the legal owner of your new home.

Congratulations!

After signing the final paperwork to complete the purchase, you are now the owner of a new house. It may take a few days for your loan to be funded once the paperwork has been returned to the lender, but once that check is delivered to the seller, you’ll be all set to move into the home of your dreams.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Cathy and Ilies were fast and diligent, made themselves available, and followed up with potential buyers. It was an impressive start for us and we are looking forward to many more sales.

— Bya & Rick

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Thank you so much for the thoughtful gift. What a surprise to have an incredible wine and a treat from our favorite bakery delivered right to our door! Please thank Ilies for us as well. You two are a great team and made our buying experience in Park City a wonderful success. Thank you again! Happy Holidays to you and yours.

— Rodney & Dee

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

I have never dealt with a real estate agent as knowledgeable, savvy, and attentive to marketing a property and closing the sale as Cathy Richards and her colleagues at Engel & Volkers in Park City, UT. She and her team were terrific in every respect, and in my view, earned every penny of the commission they received on the sale. If I were selling another property in the Park City, Utah, area, I would con...

— A. S.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Our buying process involved 5 different properties. The first four fell by the wayside for a variety of reasons but Cathy and Ilies kept on looking on our behalf and keeping us up to date as needed even when away on vacation. We lived over 1900 miles away in South Carolina and needed someone who could represent us. I don't think we could have found anyone better!

— Jan & Ted V.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Cathy is great at her job! She helped us with the purchase of a home and also a sale. Her listing was so great that our place sold while 4 others in the same complex are still for sale.

— Tom

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Cathy is awesome. We were relocated to Texas and she helped us sell our home quickly and for more than we expected. She and her partner Ilies had the house listed in just a few days, and our home had 2 offers a few days later. They helped us select the strongest offer and worked with our relocation company to close the deal. We highly recommend Cathy and Ilies. We couldn't be happier.

— Tom A.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Cathy was very professional and was able to sell our property in less than 24 hours. She knows the local market extremely well and was a pleasure to work with. I would highly recommend Cathy for any of your real estate needs.

— Seller

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Cathy Richards is a wonderful agent with deep knowledge of the local market! She has excellent communication skills and manages the sales process very effectively! I highly recommend her as a local real estate agent.

— Valentin A.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Cathy is very experienced and wonderful to work with. She really knows Park City, the Basin, and surrounding communities such as Heber City and Midway. Cathy was happy to spend time helping us get a sense of the neighborhoods where we saw homes of interest. She was very thorough when it came to marketing our home and selling it in under 30 days. I highly recommend her and her team.

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Cathy Richards is a fantastic real estate agent. I worked with her to buy a property sight unseen while I was in a different part of the country. I had to rely on her local knowledge and ethics substantially - she steered me (thankfully) away from a property that would not have been a good investment, and helped me find a fantastic property that exceeded my expectations when I finally made it out there t...

— Julie

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Cathy & Ilies are dedicated to helping you find your dream home and assisting with any selling needs you may have. Contact us today to start your home searching journey!

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CATHY RICHARDS

(435) 6405-682

[email protected]

ILIES BENMANSOUR

(541) 636-8973

[email protected]

 

890 Main St
Park City UT 84060