Legal Steps When Buying a Home 

There are countless steps involved in buying a home. Buyers need to schedule home inspections, arrange any repairs, check smoke detectors, hire a cleaning service, and choose utility providers, among other tasks. One of the largest steps for a buyer is navigating a complicated legal process.  

There are many procedures to follow and errors to avoid to ensure a smooth and compliant buying process. Using Innago’s key legal checklist for buying a property, you can make sure you’re covering all the essentials and avoiding problems down the line.     

What Steps Are Involved in Buying a Home? 

While every homebuyer’s journey is unique, there are several key steps that everyone must navigate. Understanding these important steps can make the process smoother and ensure that critical legal checkpoints are covered. 

• Pre-approval: A crucial first step is securing pre-approval from your mortgage lender. During pre-approval, your lender will assess your financial readiness and set realistic expectations for what you can afford. Knowing your budget allows you to focus on homes within your price range and positions you as a serious buyer when you’re ready to make an offer.  
• Negotiating an offer: Once you find a home that fits your needs, making an offer and negotiating the purchase terms is the next important milestone. This stage involves discussions on the price, contingencies, and other key terms, often requiring back-and-forth negotiations with the seller until both parties reach an agreement.
• Due diligence: After your offer is accepted, the process moves into the due diligence phase. This involves ordering a home appraisal and inspection, both of which are essential legal steps for verifying the property’s value and condition. This step ensures that you’re making a sound investment and have a full picture of the home’s condition before moving forward.
• Clear title: As the purchase moves closer to finalization, the legal aspects come into sharper focus. You’ll need to ensure that the title is clear and that there are no legal claims or liens on the property. This is where title insurance and a title search become critical, as they help protect your investment and ensure a smooth transfer of ownership.
• Transferring the title: The final stage in the home buying process is closing the deal. This involves signing all necessary legal documents, organizing funds for the down payment and closing costs, and officially transferring the title. It’s important to carefully review all paperwork during this stage and confirm that everything is in order before finalizing the purchase. 

Why Use a Real Estate Agent?  

Buying a home already involves many expenses. On top of a down payment, your monthly mortgage, and closing costs, there is much that you’re now responsible for paying in the wake of purchasing a home.  

Why pay a real estate agent’s commission in addition to all of it? There are several reasons why the benefits an agent or Realtor provides are worth the investment you make in paying them. Working alongside an agent will make the process much easier as well as offering you legal expertise. Let’s look at some of the biggest reasons to commission a real estate agent when buying a home. 

Assisting with Legal and Procedural Tasks  

This one is perhaps the most important reason—and the one most relevant to our checklist. Agents are experts in the world of real estate, and that includes all of the legal duties that come with purchasing a home. An agent can help you negotiate offers, review purchase agreements and important documents, prepare for closing, and complete deed and title transfers. These documents require familiarity with the legal and technical language of the real estate world.   

Even if you invest in properties frequently and have some experience with this process, it’s still best to involve an agent. They have the qualifications to make sure that tasks are done correctly and help you stay organized. If you are running a business, the last thing that you want is to overlook a legal procedure that could not only harm your investments but also compromise your business and create legal barriers. The best way to maintain vigilance is to get another set of professional eyes on your work to mediate the process.  

Additionally, delegating procedural tasks—such as preparing and filing certain legal documents after the purchase has been completed—to your agent gives you time to focus on the tasks that you will likely be more interested in upon purchasing the home. You can invest your time and energy on preparing to move in or getting the property ready for tenants to do so. While this checklist is primarily for the home buyer’s benefit, you can also use it while working closely with an agent as a real estate buyer agent checklist.  

Negotiating Prices  

As we mentioned, negotiating offers is one part of the home buying process that should heavily involve a real estate agent. The reason for this is that they are bound to be well-versed in the current state of the housing market. They should be familiar with what good and bad deals look like, as well as the common pitfalls or red flags to avoid. They will work alongside you to determine whether your interests and your budgets align in making a potential new home a worthwhile investment.   

Saving Time   

If you are interested in acquiring a property to sell, time is money. The sooner you find the right property for you, the earlier you can generate a return on your investment. If you are looking for a home for yourself, it is also beneficial to get settled as soon as possible. As previously mentioned, real estate agents filter through options that suit you and bring them to you for consideration. That kind of filtering requires expertise that agents uniquely have, and they can save you the trouble of seeking out properties that will not end up being a match for glaring or situational reasons.   

Conclusion    

Innago’s new homeowner checklist is designed to make the process of home buying efficient and encourage best practices such as collaboration with real estate agents and other professionals. It is designed to be a resource that gets you or your tenants settled in the property as soon as possible while alleviating as many of its associated stressors as possible. You can download a free copy at the top of this page.