For Buyers

Buying a St. Louis Metro Area home 101. . .

Buying a home in St. Louis is simple if you prepare well. The St. Louis Home for Sale Team makes sure you come well prepared. The best news for buyers is that there is no cost for our services. Do you want to get started? The first step is to become pre-qualified for a mortgage. This is the “show me the money” step that all sellers will want to see included in offers to purchase.

Next, fill out our Home Search questionnaire to help you find your ideal new home. The Home Search does require some personal information and is for buyers that are in the home stretch of their home buying mission.

Before running off to see homes, we’ll need to get together to discuss a few things. One of three things will happen at the end of our meeting.

One, you will understand all of the benefits our team can provide to you and you will choose to hire us. If you choose to hire us, we’ll ask you to sign a Buyers Exclusive Limited Agency Employment Contract, a document that describes how we will work together and the responsibility we have towards each other.

Two, you may not understand all the benefits our team can provide to you and you may choose not to hire us.

Three, we may feel that we cannot achieve your goals and exceed your expectations and we turn you down now rather than let you down later.

Eureka, I’ve found my dream home, now what. . .

Call us quick, and bring your check book because it could be another’s dream home too. You can almost count on it if the days on market (DOM) is under 10, and the home is well maintained, well priced and in a premium area. That kind of a home can receive a contract within days. We’ll help you determine a fair market value for the home, but it’s up to you to take your best shot if this is truly your dream home.

Some legal stuff…

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader if you don’t already have it. Take a deep breath, ready, set, and go!

Please spend time reading the following information before we go out looking at houses. Remember, our mission is to move fast when you find your dream home and becoming familiar with the terms and conditions puts you one step ahead on the information curve.

The Missouri Broker Disclosure Form describes the type of fiduciary relationships that clients and brokers can enter into in the State of Missouri. The members of the St. Louis Home For Sale Team are appointed by Keller Williams Realty Southwest (the Broker) as Designated Agents.

The second is the St. Louis Association of Realtors Residential Sale Contract (it’s a huge file download), the actual contract we will prepare when we find the house of your dreams. We’ve been through quite a few of these ourselves and remember we’re here to guide you and represent you.

The front and back door of buying a home. . .

1. Find a lender. It’s not only a good place to start, it’s the only place to start. Until you are pre-qualified for the necessary loan, there are a couple of folks that won’t take you seriously, me, my partner Art and the sellers. Generally, pre-qualification is a very quick process so if you haven’t already. . .start now. Hint: Maybe you should look for a mortgage company that has offices in your community, you know, sit across the desk from the loan officer and check them out…eyeball to eyeball.

2. Find that dream home. Working with the Mid America Regional Information System (MARIS) MLS, we will search for homes that meet your needs. This can take some time, depending on your requirements. We’ll make it as easy for you as possible by creating an online folder within the Home Search, just for you. It’s a place where you can make notes, keep favorites and we can follow your progress. Hint: At today’s gas prices we try to make the search as efficient as possible for all of us.

3. Let’s make a deal. Once we’ve found the perfect home, we’ll fill out the St. Louis Association of Realtors Residential Sale Contract, which serves as both the offer to purchase the home and defines the terms and conditions of the sale. You will also be required to issue an earnest money check that will be held in an escrow account at the title company until closing, and then you will be given credit towards the purchase price. Hint: The check will be cashed and the money held in an escrow account, make sure you have the funds in your checking account to cover the check. If you don’t, it’s a really bad way to start off.

4. Contract acceptance and/or some contract negotiation. Offer, counteroffer, counter offer to the counteroffer, . . .finally an accepted contract. What’s next is called the escrow process. Your earnest money check along with all the pertinent documents head over to the title company for review and safe keeping until closing.

It’s worth mentioning that there are contingencies tied to the contract acceptance date and the clock starts running upon acceptance of the contract. Some of the common contingencies are loan commitment, appraisals, title and survey work, all the building inspections, insurability checks, and occupancy permits. Hint: Hey, hey , hey, calm down, that’s why you hired us remember?

5. Inspection period. Acceptance of the contract starts the inspection period, the time available to you to have professional inspectors in to evaluate the home. Missouri real estate law is very well balanced between the seller and the buyer, and the inspection period gives you the opportunity to professionally check out the building. Buyers get to look under the hood, so to speak, to check out building, pest/rodent, RADON, mold and just about anything else you could be concerned about. If there are issues, you can accept some of them, it is a previously owned home; have the seller remedy the issue, that happens often; or rescind the contract, that happens too. Hint: We keep our eye on your ball and make sure it all gets done on time. As a buyer you couldn’t ask for a higher level of protection. Oh, you want more protection. . .ok, we’ll make sure your home comes with a warranty. We’ll negotiate a home protection policy for your home and if we can’t negotiate one for you, we’ll buy it for you. It’s our way of insuring your satisfaction with our service.

6. Final walkthrough before closing. This is your opportunity to follow up on the repairs and to make sure that the seller has lived up to the contractual obligations. The walkthrough usually occurs within 4 days of closing. Hint: We attend the walkthrough with you, cell phone in hand and ready to spring into action if necessary.

8. Closing. The title company has done their thing, researched the property history and checked and remedied defects in the title. They will also issue title insurance for you and your lender. That puts them on the hook if there is a screw up down the road and third cousin Bruno from Vienna, Austria has an undisclosed interest in the property. The title company also files and records the title with the county recorders office. That officially transfers ownership of the property. Hint: It’s a bit more complicated than that but you guessed it…we’re there for you again. The best part is that we create a secure web site, just for you that documents all the steps that require attention, the deadline dates and the completion dates. All you have to do is log on and check us out and watch us while we do our job.

How does that sound, are we exceeding your expectation?

You can make an appointment to meet in your home or our offices and you can request a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your home’s value. You can fill out our detailed Home Search to find your ideal new home. You may want to continue shopping around for a better buying experience, go ahead you owe it to yourself, but save this site to your favorites, we’re confident you’ll be back. When you’re ready and motivated to buy a home, give us a call or email us. We’ll tell it like it is each and every time.

Doug Aegerter 314-640-1778
Art Wagner 314-503-0335
doug@stlouisrealestatevoice.com
art@stlouisrealestatevoice.com