Purchasing a Home in Greater Raleigh NC
Greater Raleigh Realty is delighted to know that you're about to begin your future home search in the Greater Raleigh real estate market. To help facilitate your home-buying process, we've compiled numerous materials to help educate you about Agency and Agency Law. This buyer's guide contains most of the information you need to know in order to prepare you for purchasing real estate in the state of North Carolina.
Working with Real Estate Agents in North Carolina:
The North Carolina Real Estate Commission publishes a pamphlet titled "Working with Real Estate Agents" which outlines the various relationships that can exist between you, as the consumer, and an agent. The Greater Raleigh Realty Team can assist you in searching for homes and in providing you with basic information about the area; however, a time will come when we will need to review this pamphlet together. Upon doing so, the State of North Carolina asks that you sign acknowledging the fact that you have reviewed this information. This pamphlet is not a contract; it's simply an acknowledgement and is the first step in establishing an agency relationship in the state of North Carolina. Given that you'll be purchasing a home in the greater Raleigh area, please refer to the “Working With Buyer’s” section of the pamphlet as we review Agency and Agency Law.
Reviewing the basic principles of your relationship with an agent is the starting point. When purchasing real estate, you have several choices about how to work with the agent. You may want them to represent only you as a buyer's agent. If you have a "buyer's agent" agreement, the agent cannot share personal information without your permission. A second choice is for an agent to represent both you and the seller at the same time as a dual agent. Be sure that you're clear about the relationship. The dual agent must be fair to both parties and treat the buyer and seller equally. Finally, agents may be the seller's agent. In this case they must tell you if they are sellers' agents before you say anything that can help the seller. Until you are sure that an agent is not a seller's agent, you should avoid saying anything you do not want a seller to know.
Overall, be sure to read any agency agreement that you sign, so you fully understand all compensation and disclosure issues.
Purchasing Real Estate in the Greater Raleigh Area:
Although situations differ from case to case, in most cases these are the steps to purchasing real estate in Greater Raleigh North Carolina:
- Review Working with Real Estate Agents Brochure
- Obtain mortgage pre-approval
- Determine the search area (county, city, town, etc)
- Search for homes using our custom Greater Raleigh NC Home Search
- Save searches and favorite homes of interest using My Home Finder
- Identify the home or homes of most interest
- Enter into a Buyer's Agency agreement with a member of the Greater Raleigh Realty Team
- Schedule showings through Greater Raleigh Realty to view homes of most interest
- Review the various real estate forms involved in purchasing a home
- Review the Property Disclosure Form (if improved and a resale)
- Review the Lead Disclosure Form (if the home was built prior to 1978)
- Review restrictive covenants (if applicable)
- Perform a Comparable Market Analysis (CMA)
- Research previous sales data, days on the market, etc.
- Make an offer - complete and submit an "Offer to Purchase and Contract"
- Review and accept, or reject and counter with a counteroffer
- Achieve contract acceptance
Once the "Offer to Purchase and Contract" is accepted, it becomes a binding contract on the terms and conditions of the offer. There are numerous processes involved from this point on that need to be done on a time schedule as determined by the closing date specified in the contract. Here are the steps after entering into a contract:
- Choosing a closing attorney
- Order property inspections - home, pest, and radon
- Ordering a survey, if applicable
- Ordering an appraisal (this is often ordered by the lender)
- Ordering home owners and flood insurance, if applicable
Working with the Greater Raleigh Realty Team
These are the steps to purchasing real estate. Researching, presenting a range of value for an offer, negotiating, estimating closing costs, coordinating and following up on all the components associated with a contract in order to bring the transaction to a smooth closing is part of what we do as your real estate agents. The other part is having the product knowledge and market focus to help you obtain your real estate objective.
We hope you found this information most useful and informative. Our job is to work exclusively for you, representing your best interests throughout a real estate transaction. When we work for you we completely educate you about the practice of Agency, more specifically in your case "Buyer Agency," by outlining our fiduciary responsibilities to you, which include: complete Disclosure, Loyalty, Confidentiality, Obedience, and Accountability.
As you begin the process of purchasing a home in the Greater Raleigh area, please continue to utilize our Web site, www.GreaterRaleighRealty.com, for all of your real estate needs. At this site you can access all of the homes in the Greater Raleigh area and search for homes using advanced search criteria. If you are curious or interested in a home you see advertised on the Web site (or any place else), please feel free to please contact us anytime. We welcome your inquiries and look forward to corresponding with you as questions arise.
Kind Regards,