• Get a home warrant. • Order a home and pest inspection. • Order a home appraisal. • Ask for title search and insurance. • Be present at a walkthrough. • Set the time and date of the closing. • Get ready for closing day.
Step 1: Open an Escrow First, open an escrow. An escrow is a contractual arrangement in which a third party receives and disburses money or documents for the primary transacting parties, with the disbursement dependent on conditions agreed to by the transacting parties. On average, escrow will last approximately one month, during which time the third party is taking care of transactions on behalf of both the seller and the buyer. For example, if you are providing an inspection as a buyer, you deposit funds to the escrow account. Make sure that you are fully aware of all costs associated with this service beforehand. Negotiate everything upfront. You don’t want to end up being charged with an unexpected fee from a company simply because you didn’t do your homework ahead of time. Always understand your escrow company’s fees before entering into an agreement. Step 2: Lock in the Interest Rate Part of the closing process involves shopping for a home loan, fin ding a good deal at a great rate, and then “locking” that rate down — a mortgage rate lock, as we discussed in Chapter 9. A mortgage rate lock guarantees that a mortgage lender will give a buyer a certain interest rate, at a certain price, for a certain period 159
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