Your home buying process - how stress-free (or not) will it be? It can all depend on you. If you march into the process unaware, you may not be prepared for what can only be described as the "pitfalls of home buying". Below is a checklist and description of necessary activities to get you prepared for a successful, positive experience.

Before You Start - Choosing an Agent
Your First Consultation - Choosing a Lender
Touring Homes - Making Your Offer
Inspections and Walk-through - Closing

Choosing an Agent

Selecting an agent can be the determining factor in whether you enjoy or loathe your experience. If you are relocating, your agent is also your tour guide, helping you to become familiar with the area and decide which neighborhoods you prefer. You will spend lots of time with your agent during your home search and you will want to pick someone with whom you are comfortable. Also, choose an agent with good training and experience. Remember that more years in business does not necessarily equal more experience. An agent is someone who will go to bat for you if problems arise. Pick an agent who can stand up to pushy listing agents and who can motivate others if necessary. Ask your prospective agent a few questions - see if you can easily understand her answers. You want an agent who is knowledgeable and can explain even the most complicated of processes so that you feel comfortable progressing in the transaction. Feel free to ask for references. When you finally choose an agent, most likely you will want her to represent you as a buyer's agent. This way, the agent is required by law to represent only your interests.

Your First Consultation with Me as Your Agent

When you first meet with me, I will ask you lots of question and give you some information to take home. Below is a list of topics we will cover:

• Agency - you can elect to sign the Buyer's Agency Agreement.
• Your time frame, housing and area preferences, and price range
• Scheduling - I will get your contact information and give you mine. We will discuss your availability to view homes and methods of communication.
• Financing options - I will give you some names of lenders to get started with.

Upon your request, I will show you the forms used throughout the process and explain their use.  We will search the Triangle Multiple Listing Service database for an overview of the homes currently available which meet your needs and preferences.

Choosing a Lender

Although it is tempting to use your regular bank's lending department or to call your local lending institutions while shopping for the best rates at the time, it can be important to realize that there is more to securing a mortgage than just the rate. In fact, most lending institutions have similar lending rates. The best way to find a reputable lender is to ask someone you know for a recommendation. I know several good lenders who have successfully met the needs of their clients. Only take recommendations from friends and relatives if they have personally worked with the lender from origination to closing. Many predatory lending institutions and practices have appeared in the past decade, making it harder for the average consumer to find a reputable mortgage source. The reputable mortgage companies often have a variety of programs to meet the needs of all sorts of customers. I work hard to keep myself current on all the newest loan programs, frequently staying in contact with my extensive network of preferred lenders. If you have special needs or preferences in getting a home loan, chances are I can point you in the right direction. If by chance I am not familiar with loan programs that would work for you, I will get on the phone and call until I finds out the information you need to get started. I can also tell you about the advantages of choosing a lender early and getting "pre-approved" for a specific amount.

Being pre-approved can:

•  Bolster you negotiating position when you do decide to make an   offer.

•  Help you determine your price range.

•  Keep you from finding your dream home, making an offer, becoming emotionally attached to the house, then having to leave it behind because your loan was turned down.

•  Help the seller of the home you want to buy know that you are a serious, pre-qualified buyer.

Touring Homes

Many people find home shopping to be a wonderful part of the homebuying experience-but it requires organization; consider this analogy. Have you ever been clothes or shoe shopping at the mall when you had in mind a particular item? You look at store after store for this item. One place has the item you want, but it's not the right size. Another has something similar, but not quite perfect. You look and look, and soon you have seen so many clothes or pairs of shoes that you can't make a decision because you don't remember which stores had which items. Home shopping is very similar to this process. In some cases, there will be many, many homes from which to choose. There are several ways to keep the search organized:

If you aren't sure which area you want to live, let me help you decide which neighborhoods you'd like to tour. If neighborhood quality is important to you, this will eliminate time wasted touring houses in places you'd rather not live.
Bring advertisements, houses you find in home magazines and open flyer announcements to my attention. I can do the work of finding out more information for you so that you don't waste your time at open houses and on the phone with listing agents.

Try to keep each trip short. If you try to visit too many homes at one time, you can forget the details of each home as they run together.

Use a checklist to keep track of the homes you see on each homebuying trip. When the trip is finished, you can use the checklist to help you eliminate homes you don't care for and to refine your search.

Communicate your preferences to me. If you think all the homes you've seen don't work for you, tell me what you think and I can work with you to redirect your search. Often it takes at least one trip out to really get a feel for the kind of home you're looking for.

When you get the urge to go to open houses and model homes on your own, don't forget to tell them you have an agent! A lot of new home communities may not let you return with your own representation later.

Making Your Offer

Once you've narrowed your choices to a few, it becomes easy to decide between them. I will do any and all research necessary to help you make that decision. You will want to compare schools, zoning issues, planning issues, neighborhood amenities and, of course, home features.

After your choice is made, I will do a quick comparative market analysis on that home for you. This is to determine if the home is priced correctly based on what others were willing to pay for similar homes in the area.

It's time to decide a few things before you make the offer:

•  How much you will offer for the home.

•  How much earnest money you are willing to offer. I can help you by telling you what is standard for your price range and situation.

•  What personal property of the sellers you wish to be included in the purchase price. I will explain the difference between real and personal property.

•  If you want the seller to pay closing costs and/or pre-paids on your behalf.

•  What your closing date will be. You may want to pick the date you find most desirable, but also have a range of back-up dates in mind.

•  Which inspections you want to have done. I will help you decide which ones are standard for your situation.

Decide which terms are not negotiable for you and discuss with me the ones that are, and in what way. This will help me be able to best represent you in negotiations with the Listing Agent and Seller.

Your offer, once signed by you, will be presented to the listing agent, who will present the offer to the sellers. Most offers require some negotiation, so relax and I will give you a call when the Listing agent lets me know whether the sellers have accepted you offer, rejected it, or proposed a counteroffer. I will guide you through the steps of negotiation and answer any question you may have.

Inspections and Walkthrough

I always recommend that my clients have both a thorough home inspection and a termite inspection. I can provide you with choices of reputable, dependable companies to complete your inspections. You may also elect to have the well and septic inspected, or have your home tested for radon or lead-based paint. I will explain your options before the offer is written and ensure that your inspections are completed in a timely manner. I will help you draft and submit a request for repairs after your home inspection report comes back (usually less than 72 hours after inspection).

Prior to closing, we will walk through the home and make sure the repair items have been corrected and verify that all systems are in working order. For resale homes, the walk-through will be the day before or the same day as closing. If systems are found to be defective or repairs are unsatisfactory, you can ask the seller for a credit at closing so that you can fix the problem, or money can be held in escrow by the attorney until the problem is settled after closing. With new construction, the walk-through occurs more than a week before closing. You, the builder, and I walk through the home and make a punch list of things that still need to be finished. The builder tries to get all the items done before closing, nut may elect to visit your home and finish the list in the short period after closing. It is ideal for the buyer, new construction or not, for all items to be settled prior to closing.

Closing

I will contact you before closing to go over the figures provided by the closing attorney. I will give you directions to the place of closing and will tell you how much you should bring to closing. Most attorneys require a certified check, not personal. You will sign lots of papers at closing, but both I and the closing attorney can answer any questions you have. You will get the keys to the house at closing, but the attorney will record the deed shortly thereafter.

Your First Step in the Buying Process...

Before you begin your home search:

Save your money - You will need at least a moderate savings to cover your earnest money deposit and some closing costs.

Try to pay down any outstanding debt such as credit cards, car loans and store credit.

Be thrifty - Don't buy that new car yet and save the furniture shopping for later. You will need your credit to be in tip-top shape for the home buying process.

Have a credit report run on yourself/yourselves, then make sure all the information is accurate.

You can visit www.qspace.com or the credit report service agency of your choice to receive an online credit report. For a small fee, you enter a credit card number and information and get an instant report on yourself. For more money, you can get a detailed report drawn from all three credit reporting agencies.

If you wish to keep your credit to yourself, you can elect to contact all three credit reporting agencies yourself:

* Experian (www.experian.com/consumer/index.html)
P.O. Box 9600
Allen, TX 75013
1-800-311-4769

* Trans Union (www.transunion.com/CreditReport/)
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, PA 19022
(Include Full Name, Current Address, Previous Address, SSN, DOB, Current Employer, Phone Number, Signature and fee [$8.50 for most states])

* Equifax (www.equifax.com)
Equifax Credit Information Services
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374
1-800-685-1111
[$8.50 for most states]

Find out how much house you can comfortably afford. How to do that? If you want to have a ballpark figure, you can use one of the handy calculators at our Fonville Morisey Lending website (www.fmlending.com). Or, one of our in-house lenders will be able to tell you exactly how much house you can afford, and give you different scenarios based on current interest rate, your down payment, and the price of home you are interested in.

Watch the real estate channel, check out the real estate section of the local paper or attend open houses. Getting yourself acquainted with the real estate market in this way allows you to learn the real estate jargon, become familiar with prices and varying degrees of quality. Only take this step if you are buying a home the same area rather than relocating to another city or state. Home prices and standards can vary widely from place to place. If you are relocating to another city or state, get yourself a knowledgeable buyer's agent who will not only help you look at houses, but will also educate you to the new city's market. I can help you find a buyers agent anywhere in the country through our national network.

Contact Me For Real Estate Advice. I can...

• Answer your homebuying questions

• Access information on all properties listed in the area

• Set up appointments for you to see homes

• Offer opinions backed by extensive experience when touring the homes with you

• Help arrange financing for you

• Support and guide you all the way through to closing

• Make your transaction as painless and stress-free as possible