1 Starting the Loan Process
Becoming pre-approved for a mortgage is the first and most important step in the home buying process. Not only does it assure you that you are focusing your home search in the right price range, it also assures the seller that you can complete the purchase on the home you choose. Our mortgage partner, Gerber Group, can help lead you through this process.
2 Questions to Ask Yourself
After you have been pre-approved for a loan, the next step is to begin to compile a list of items that are important to you or questions that you might ask yourself such as:
- Where do you want to live?
- What features are you looking for in your next home?
- Why are these important to you?
- Are you willing to take on a fixer-upper?
Be sure to communicate your list to your Cutler Realtor. Don’t have an realtor? Find one today.
3 Making an Offer To Purchase
Your Cutler Realtor will present your offer to the seller, and communicate with you through the whole negotiation process. Because of Cutler Real Estate’s leading edge technology platform, the paperwork can be signed online and communicated electronically.
4 Contract to Close
After the emotional ups and downs of the entire process of executing a real estate transaction, the closing process is the final step. This is also referred to as the “Settlement” or “Escrow” process. In Ohio, this process is carried out by a real estate escrow and title company mutually agreed upon by the buyer and seller in the negotiation stage of the transaction. During this process, the title company will collect all necessary information from the title examiner, mortgage company, real estate agents, buyers and sellers to prepare the title to be transferred to the you, the new owner.
The entire escrow process usually takes about 30–45 days to complete based on factors such as the financing conditions and appraisal, successful property inspections, title exam and property survey. At the end of the escrow process, both buyer and seller will schedule a time to execute the final closing documents. In most jurisdictions, the title to the property is officially transferred to the new owner upon the execution, delivery and recording of the deed at the county recorder’s office.
5 Possession
Keys are given to you on a date mutually agreed upon between you and the seller during the negotiation stage. If the keys are to be delivered at closing, closing is defined as “the recording of the deed” on most real estate contracts.