The JWA

Ten Steps to Buying a Home

We specializing in helping everyone from first time home buyers to the most experienced of investors. Our buyer specialists are here to walk you through the steps from finding the right home to getting it under contract and coordinating the closing with your lender and attorney.

  1. Pick Your Agent: When selecting your real estate agent, you will want to pick an agent which specializes in buyers. At Jennifer Westmoreland & Associates, we have agents that only work with buyers; this means our buyer’s agents are experts in matching the right home with the right buyer.
  2. Meet with Lender: Before we enter the first home, you will want to meet with a lender. Our team specializes in matching up our clients with the lenders who best fit their needs.
  3. Get Pre-Approved: Many sellers are now requiring a pre-approval letter on file before they will let buyers in their homes. We will work with you and your lender to make sure we always have the most up to date information on file.
  4. Determine Your Wants and Needs: Because home prices are largely based on features and location, we find it best to go over your wants and needs after you have been pre-approved. By looking at homes in this order, we are able to focus on the features which you will be most happy with in your preferred budget.
  5. Start Looking: In our area, listing agents use two different Multiple Listing Services (MLS)- Georgia MLS and Classic MLS (NAVICA) to post homes for sale. Most websites only allow you to search one MLS, but at ForYourEveryMove.com, we have made it so you can search both MLSs from one convenient place. Your buyer’s agent will also set up automatic emails which will notify you every time a new home that might meet your needs comes on the market.
  6. Start Viewing: Now that we have a list of properties that you would like to view in person, we will set up all the appointments. This means you don’t have to call every agent on every sign or even the For Sale By Owners, we will set it all up for you.
  7. Making an Offer: Now that you found your dream home, we will draw up an offer. We will pull comparable properties to show you what similar properties have sold for in the past six months. We will also look at both the property’s location and condition to help you determine a strategy to purchase the home on the best terms.
  8. Setting Inspections: Once your offer is accepted, you will hear from our Transaction Coordinator. Their job is to help walk you through the rest of your transaction. We know you will have a lot of questions during this time and that is why we have one person dedicated to helping you through this process. One of the first items the Transaction Coordinator will help you so is set up is your home inspection. There are several forms of inspections one can have, from a general inception, to pest and termite, septic and air conditioning. We know that most people don’t know which inspections are needed or who to contact but both your buyers agent and Transaction Coordinator will help you through this process. After the inspection is performed, we may want to go back to the sellers and ask for repairs or for a reduction on price. This is a time where your buyers agent will help you negotiate to make sure you are satisfied with your purchase.
  9. Getting to Closing: While your new home is under contract you will be asked to provide lots of paper work to your lender. There will also be appraisals preformed on the property and you will need to set up utilities and insurance which our Transaction Coordinator will help orchestrate.
  10. Closing: This is the day that all home buyers can’t wait for, the day you get the keys to your new home. A few days before your closing date you will be contacted by our transaction coordinator to go over your closing disclosure, which is just like a large receipt for the purchase of your home. On the disclosure you will see how much money needs to be wired to the closing attorney.