If you're purchasing a new home, I'll help you find one that meets your needs and complements your lifestyle. Once you've made your selection, I can assist you in acquiring financing, negotiating with the seller and completing the transaction. I will:

	Work on your behalf to streamline your home search, first expanding your choices, then helping you narrow the field.
	Research "comparable" properties to determine a fair price and terms.
	Prepare your Purchase Agreement and accompanying legal documents.
	Negotiate for the price, terms and conditions that are agreeable to you.
	Follow-up with your mortgage lender, the title company, the seller's agent and others until the house is yours.

Step One: Determining You're Ready

Making the commitment to buying a home is very important. Emotionally you are ready to go. You know what you want and how fast you want it. However, home buying is more than being emotionally ready. Being financially ready is what separates the home shoppers from the home buyers.

How do you know if you're financially ready?

First, you interview and select a mortgage lender who you feel will give you honest and ethical service. If you're wondering where to find a mortgage lender, look no further than Real Living Mortgage, an affiliate of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. It is one of Real Living's many services that helps make us one of the largest real estate company's in America.

Once you've selected a mortgage lender, the lender will be able to check your credit and verify your income. This helps you acquire a pre-approval letter. A pre-approval letter states how much the lender is willing to let you borrow to purchase a home. It also tells you and your realtor what price range of homes you are able to look at.

What do you need to provide a lender to get pre-approved?

The basic documents needed to provide your lender are as follows:

	Last 30 days in pay stubs
	W-2 tax forms covering the past two years
	Three months of financial statements from all asset accounts (Ex. Checking, Savings, 401(k))
	Copy of your Driver's License and Social Security card

There may be other documents a lender may require in order to determine what you can afford for a mortgage loan depending on your current life situation.

Use your lender for the expert they are!

Step Two: Contact Dave Kipfer

After determining you're ready to be a homeowner, it is now time to contact a realtor. When you choose to work with me, I promise to give you honest, ethical, and competant service. I will listen to and understand your every need and do everything in my power to make the housing process an enjoyable and memorable experience. Buying a home is a milestone in everyone's life. It is an honor and a privledge to be a part of it.

Once you've contacted me, I will ask a set of preliminary questions to learn a little about you and what is important to you. This helps me set up your buying consultation and presentation.

Step Three: Agent to Client Buying Consultation

This consultation is where I will prove to you why you should choose me as your realtor. The best part about this consultation as well as my services as your buyer's agent is that they are free. Based on our first discussion, I will have prepared a custom consultation that will center around your needs, wants, and desires and how I will accomplish meeting those while working with you. You should never work with an agent that doesn't understand what is important to you.

Next, I will consult you on our compliance packet. The compliance packet contains all the agency and government documentation used in the home buying process. Your agent should be able to thoroughly explain each of the documents enclosed in the packet and answer any questions you may have regarding them.

After this presentation is complete, it is time to decide if I am the right realtor for you.

Step Four: Looking at Homes

Once you've made the decision to go with me as your realtor, then we can start looking at prospective homes. Your prospective home list will be based off of your interests as well as in the range of what your pre-approval letter states you can afford. By doing this, we will avoid looking at homes that in the end will only create disappointment. This home list will be created through using several medias to locate homes. Such locations will be:

	The Multiple Listing Service database
	The Internet (Ex. RealLiving.com through My Real Living 2.0)
	Print Media (Newspapers, magazines, etc.)
	Home Builders for New Builds, Condos, etc.
	Word of mouth/E-Mail/Phone contact with other realtors about their listings
	For Sale by Owner advertisements (signs, flyers, websites, etc.)

Once we've gone through and selected all your homes of interest, we will schedule showings for those homes that best fit around your schedule. During these tours, it is essential to take notes of your likes and dislikes, because if you aren't buying the home you're in, there's a reason why that will help us find the right home for you. Based on your likes and dislikes, we will be able to alter your specifications and either expand or narrow the field of homes best suited for you.

Step Five: Making an Offer

After all the searching and showings, we have found the home for you. You are ready to do what it takes to make sure you're the next owner. Now it is up to me to put you in the strongest possible position during the negotiation process.

First, I will complete a Comparable Market Analysis (CMA) to determine what a good asking price for your home is. This analysis will look at homes with attributes similar to yours and located within the area. These are the homes that drive the market price for future listings and more accurately, current selling prices. If an offer is not relative to what the market is asking, you may run the risk of losing out on the home you desire.

Once we've settled on an asking price, we will review the real estate contract and insert any clauses as well as make any changes before submitting an offer. We will also submit the Agency Disclosure Statement, a document that discloses who the realtors and agencies are involved in the transaction, with the contract.

Once the contract is submitted to the seller, we will wait to receive acceptance or a counter offer. If a counter offer is made, you can either choose to counter back or walk away from the transaction.

Step Six: You're in Contract!

The hardest part is over! You've agreed on a price, you've agreed on all the terms. Now its time to take care of everything else to ensure a smooth transaction.

First, we're going to mark down all the important dates. The most important part of being in contract is meeting the deadline dates. If you do not, your contract will become null and void.

What are the important deadlines?

The important deadlines are:

	Final Loan Approval
	Attorney Approval
	Condo Docs/Deed Restrictions Review
	Final Inspections (Ex. Home, Termite, Radon, etc.)
	Request to Remedy
	Final Walk Through

It is vital once you become in contract that you setup all of your inspections (home, termite, etc.) immediately to give you the most time to have them completed. You will also have to call your insurance agent and setup your Homeowner's insurance, as well as call the local utility companies to switch over to your name upon the Date of Possession. After all the documents we've used have been submitted and reviewed, your lender will call you when your loan is approved. If agreed to in the contract, 48 hours prior to closing you will be able to give a final walkthrough to witness all repairs, remedies, and see that the house is in similar or better condition than the last time we viewed it. We will also have a copy of the Settlement Statement to review by that time as well, a document with all the costs of the transaction that we will also see at the closing table.

Step Seven: Closing Day

Closing is when all documentation and the sale of your home becomes final. In most cases you will assume possession of the home at the end of this proceeding.

Closing procedures can either take place in person or by the title company sending the paperwork to the closing agent. Most in-person closings will take place at the office of the title company chosen by the seller.

All you will have to bring to closing will be a bank check for the amount indicated on the settlement statement (ex. closing costs, down payment), proof of Homeowner's insurance, form of ID (ex. driver's license), and any other miscellaneous documents requested.

Once we arrive at closing and the closing agent arrives, all documents involved in the transaction will be reviewed and finalized. Once both you and the seller have signed all the necessary documents and the proper funds are disbursed, the closing is over.

Congratulations! You are now a homeowner!