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Buying Your First Home

September 20, 2022

Buying a home can be overwhelming but we’ve got you covered! Here are the top 5 things to know during your real estate hunt for a home or apartment in New York City (whether that’s Brooklyn, Manhattan or any other borough!) Randy explains what you need to do, how long it will take and helpful tips. Find that mortgage broker (and get your pre-approval letter), work with a real estate agent, submit your offer (you’ll review the real estate comps and negotiate the price), hire the right real estate attorney (who can do the due diligence) and how to get into contract! Last it’s onto the condo or co-op board application and eventually you’ll move into your dream home!

The Search

When searching for a home, the first thing you need to do is speak to a mortgage broker. Your real estate agent can give you a list of three to five lenders who can help you along the way with getting a pre-approval letter. A pre-approval letter will tell you how much you can spend, what your interest rate might be, and how much your monthly payments will be. 

Once you have that pre-approval letter, you are ready to begin your search. Now that you have that pre-approval letter in hand, you are ready to contact an agent and begin looking for homes. You're going to let your agent know what your budget is, what your ideal location is, and any amenities that might make your life that much better. Fun fact, the typical buyer takes 20 to 25 viewings before they find the perfect home, but when you're working with Randy Baruh Team, we'll find your home a little bit quicker than that. 

The Offer Stage

After months and months of searching, obsessing, dreaming, wishing, and looking for that perfect place, you've found it and you want to put in an offer. So what do you do? Well, your real estate agent is going to do a little bit of digging, a little bit of fact-finding, they're going to look at comps, see what other similar apartments in the building and in the area are trading for. They're also going to find out about any assessments that might be upcoming, or any issues that might need to be repaired or investigated in the apartment. Once you found out all of that information you're ready to put in the offer. And it's my job as your agent to not only get the best price possible, but also the most favorable terms so that at the end of the day, you're happy with the deal and you're ready to move into your new home. 

Due Diligence

Now that you have an accepted offer with favorable terms, what's next? Well, now's the time to hire a real estate attorney. Here in New York City Real Estate Attorneys charge a flat fee, and they are responsible for the process of negotiating the contract and doing all of the due diligence. The due diligence is looking into every aspect of the building. The building's finances, and everything that makes the building tick to make sure that it is a good investment. Once the attorney is finished with that process, which typically takes five business days, he or she will go over the contract with you and all of their findings to make sure that you're comfortable moving forward. 

The Contract Stage

All right, cool. Now you are officially in contract. So what do you do? Well, if you're financing, you're going to send that contract to your bank so that they can start the process of underwriting the loan and giving you a commitment letter. Once you have that commitment letter, you're going to submit a board application. And that's true whether it's a condo or a co-op. 

Both applications will require tax returns financial information and reference letters. The difference between a condo board application and a co-op board application is in a co-op you're going to have an interview. An interview with a co-op is kind of like a date where you get to suss each other out and make sure that both parties are really happy with each other and want to be neighbors. Once you've passed the Board process and you've gotten official Board approval, you are ready to schedule a closing and move into your new home. 

You're a Home Owner!

And now that you have your new home all that's left to do is grab your keys, grab a bottle of champagne, and have an amazing housewarming party for all of your friends and family members. 

 

Many thanks for joining me today on Randy's Real Estate questions. I had a lot of fun letting you know all about the home-buying process. If I've helped you out today, please like and share. If you have any questions leave them in the comments below. And if you'd like to see more videos, follow me on Instagram (@randybaruh) and TikTok (@randy_baruh). I'm excited to be answering all of your Real Estate questions! 

 

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