Resources for Buyers

Home Buying Process

We will first send you a Buyer's Questionnaire to complete prior to an initial 30 minute phone call we will schedule to discuss more specifically your home buying goals. When we speak, we will be able to be more efficient with your time because of the important information you will have already provided. Reviewing your responses prior to our call will allow us to focus on understanding the real estate needs that suit you best. We like to think of this part of the process as creating a “real estate road map” that will guide us to your dream home.

Phase 1 - Get to Know the Neighborhoods and Marketplace

Many clients have a general idea of what cities and neighborhoods appeal to them most. However, we will strategically examine your criteria to help determine areas within those cities and neighborhoods that are a good match for your needs and wishes. We will personally take you to your preferred neighborhoods, provide an overview of the area, and show you homes that are a good representation of the combination of the features that have the greatest appeal to you. Most importantly, we will provide you with information about schools, local amenities, and an appreciation of the chosen area.

Here are a few helpful links below that will give you neighborhood highlights and overviews:

• Walk Score

• Nabewise

• SF Gate Neighborhood Guides

Phase 2 - Get Pre-Approved, Find a Home, & Review Disclosures

Getting pre-approved by your lender is an important step in the home buying process. In this market, a pre-approval letter is a prerequisite for consideration of your offer and will be included in the presentation when submitting your purchase contract.

Once you have located the desired property, we will carefully review the disclosures.  Several of the disclosures that may be included are:

• Property Inspection Report

• Pest Inspection Report

• Seller's Disclosures

• Title Report

• City Resale Inspections

• Homeowners Association (HOA) Documents

Phase 3 - Offer & Ratified Contract, Escrow & Closing

We will work with you on drafting an offer and will be in constant communication with the listing agent to find out how many offers there are and what we can do to submit the strongest offer possible. When deciding on what price to offer, we will review the market and comparable sales with you and provide our expertise on what would be a strong offer, while remaining within your comfort level.

Once you are in contract, the average escrow is between 21 and 30 days.  The first step will be to initiate the initial deposit, which is typically around 3% of the purchase price and is due within 1-3 business days. If you have a loan, we will also coordinate the appraisal and be on site for the appointment to answer any questions the appraiser may have. If your offer has buyer investigation contingencies, we will coordinate the inspection appointments, as well as submit any required contractual paperwork needed to eventually remove the contingencies, or ask for seller credits, or cancel the contract should the home’s condition not meet your expectations.

James Seller Advisors’ Transaction Coordinator (TC) will work in conjunction with your agent to guide you through the requisite paperwork and keep you updated on the status of any outstanding documents that require your review and acknowledgement.  In addition, the TC will work closely with your agent to keep you informed of important escrow tasks such as wiring in your deposit, signing closing/loan documents, and wiring in your balance due just prior to closing. Once the purchase of your home is official and recorded with the county, we will notify you immediately of the exciting news and will happily hand over all keys to you to complete the first step of your home ownership.