Real Estate Buyer's Guide
The Sun Valley real estate market offers more opportunities that ever before. Whether you are an experience real estate investor with a sophisticated and diverse portfolio or a first-time home buyer contemplating the purchase of your first home, it's important to educate yourself on the latest market trends and, if necessary, the basics of the home buying process.
Explore our home buyer's guide below to educate yourself on the entire process. Once you are ready, give us a call to start your home buying experience.
Prior to beginning your home search, it is imperative you determine your financial situation. Your budget will help drive your housing options and therefore is a logical first step in the home buying process. Furthermore, as you get down the road and are ready to make an offer on the home of your dreams, you can do so with complete confidence in your financial situation.
Establish Your Budget
When determining your budget, there are probably a few people you will want to speak with. Your personal financial advisor is the perfect place to start. Most likely this person knows the most about your finances (other than yourself!) and can help guide you through the investment process of a buying a home. This advisor will have in depth knowledge of your current expenses such as college loans, car payments, retirement funds and more. Plus, a skilled financial advisor may be able to point out tax incentives for certain properties or guide you into a better investment.
If you are not currently working with a financial advisor, take the time to sit down with your spouse or partner (if you will be buying together) and discuss all your current expenses from credit card balances to savings accounts. This will help ensure you are both on the same page before moving forward with a mortgage.
Once you have done a deep dive into your financial situation, it is time to consult with your bank or a mortgage broker if you intend to secure a mortgage for purchasing a property.
Discuss Mortgage Options
There are plenty of options when it comes to mortgages. Depending on your personal financial situation, some may be better suited for your needs. Your banker or mortgage broker will inform you as to which documents they require to get the ball rolling, Often you will need to provide records of current assets as well a recent pay stubs to initiate the financing process.
Throughout this process, you will discuss the requirements for your down payment depending on which type of loan you will be trying to procure. Some options offer as little as 3.5% down, while a down payment of 20% will most likely eliminate the requirement of costly mortgage loan insurance.
Get Pre-Approval
Written pre-approval can be very valuable when it comes to making an offer on a home. this is especially true if you end up competing with another buyer to purchase your dream home.
Once you have filed all your paperwork to get the mortgage process rolling, your bank or mortgage lender can provide you with a pre-approval letter that shows the sellers that you will be able to secure financing and you have taken the necessary steps to begin the mortgage process.
Once you have a budget determined, the next part gets really fun! Take a moment to sit down, either buy yourself or with your spouse or partner and write down what your dream property looks like. While it is best to start big in terms of location, type of property, etc., you can also think about the more granular facets. Throughout the process, it is important to remember that your dream home might end up being different than what you envision so be sure to keep an open mind!
When thinking about your dream property, consider the following:
- City or Neighborhood
- Number of Bedrooms
- Number of Bathrooms
- Type of Floor Plan (single level, split level, etc.)
- Specialty rooms (home office, media room, gym, etc)
- Storage needs
- Outdoor space
- Home Systems (air conditioning, radon mitigation, etc.)
- Special Features (fireplace, swimming pool, solar panels, etc.)
- Parking options
Beyond the superficial aspects of a property, it is crucial to think about your lifestyle and life stage. For example, if all your children are in their late teens and about to go off to college purchasing a large home might not make the most sense.
Consider how long you plan to live in the home and whether it will suit your needs now as well as into the future.
A Realtor helps represent your interests when purchasing a home. When making such a huge financial investment, it is crucial to have someone (or a team!) in your corner helping you make the best decisions possible. For this reason, connecting with your Sun Valley Real Estate agent is key! At Young Group Sun Valley, we pride ourselves on helping our clients make thoughtful decisions while guiding them through the processes of buying a home in a step by step manner.
LOCAL EXPERTISE
Young Group Sun Valley, your Sun Valley real estate agents, offer in-depth knowledge of the local real estate market, from advice on specific homes and neighborhoods with the highest potential return on investment to insights into properties that best suit your life stage and lifestyle.
We service clients throughout the Wood River Valley, from Sun Valley and Ketchum, to Hailey, Bellevue and surrounding areas. Furthermore, our network of talented real estate agents, not only around the country, but also around the globe, ensure we can provide a thoughtful recommendation wherever your life might take you!
Exclusivity
When working with a Realtor, you can rest assured that you have all the latest in local real estate news, including properties that may not be listed online or held off market. Our connection to our local agents as well as agents across the globe offers us exclusive access to ensure the perfect property doesn't slip through your fingers.
Real Estate Is Our Specialty
Real Estate is what we do. Engel & Volkers Sun Valley has built itself on the principle that we are a real estate company. We don't strive to handle more than that as we want to guarantee we are serving you in the best way possible. From a single family residence to an investment condo, our specialized knowledge translates to finding you the perfect property. From a riverfront retreat to a penthouse in the heart of downtown, we strive to find the Sun Valley real estate of your dreams!
After meeting with us to discuss your needs and wants in a new property, we will start to gather a list of potential options. With various online tools, we can offer a large list of prospective Sun Valley properties for you to view and begin narrowing down. Keep in mind that a property has to feel right for you to be comfortable in making such a large investment. Therefore, don't be afraid to amend your needs and wants throughout the process. It is very common for buyers to want someone in theory, but then to realize the reality doesn't quite hit the mark.
Peruse Online Listings
The first step of the home buying process is to view available listings online. This will give you a first impression on a property by allowing you to assess location, site details, photos and more. Some listings even offer virtual tours that allow you to walk through the home without leaving the comfort of your own couch!
While reviewing listings online, make notes of pros and cons and provide feedback to us as your Sun Valley real estate agents. Ideally from the first list we will be able to identify your favorite properties and set up an in-person showing.
Again, don't be afraid to change your search criteria at any point. We are happy to amend the search and send a new list if you decide something else fits your needs just a little bit better.
Gain Access to Off Market Options
When working with a professional Sun Valley Real Estate agent, not only do you gain market knowledge, but you also gain information on off-market properties. These properties may have chosen to stay offline due to privacy reasons or they might be not ready to launch online yet. Either way, we may be able to secure you advanced access to a property that may suit your needs!
Property Tours
When you have determined a list of favorite properties, we will set up in-person property tours. For those buyers not located in-town, we are happy to tour the property for you and provide you with a video walk through.
For the tour, we will provide a printout of basic details of each home. During your walk through, we recommend jotting down quick notes with highlights or lowlights of each property. Chances are, you might be touring multiple Sun Valley homes at once and it can be easy to get them confused later. Plus, it will make it easier for you and your partner to discuss later on.
Evaluate Your Options
Depending on the area and type of property you are trying to purchase, you may not have a ton of time to make you decision. However, we will try to guide you as best we can on the popularity and competitiveness of the property. Unless you have a clear front-runner after touring properties, we recommend you rule out the lowest ranking properties. Hopefully you will be left with only 2 or 3 still in the running. From there, we suggest you write out the pros and cons to determine which property fits your wish/need list. Take into consideration the following: location, neighborhood, amenities, size, lot attributes, unique features, and value potential.
When you have found your dream property in Sun Valley, it is time to make an offer. This can be a stressful step in the home-buying process so never hesitate to ask you Sun Valley Realtors questions throughout each step. We will make sure you understand the various steps of the process so you can be at ease when making such a huge decision.
Valuation
Just because a property is listed at a certain price, doesn't mean it is necessarily worth that price. We will provide you with thorough information on comparable sales to your subject property as well as any information we might have as to the popularity of the area or property. For example, if the home already has another offer, we will want to be a little more competitive.
Offer Details
When we have a target value in mind, we will start to put together the various specifics included in the offer. This can cover anything from the legal purchase name (your name or an LLC or a trust) to contingencies and requested furnishings to close and possession dates. Even if you are offering a lower price, we can adjust the various details to make your offer incredibly competitive.
Submit the Offer...and Wait
Once the offer is signed, we will submit the offer to the seller's agent. At this point, we just have to wait for any sort of response. There are a variety of responses we could receive including: acceptance, counter offer and rejection. No matter what the response, we will help you with any and all next steps. Once both parties agree to terms, you will officially be under contract to purchase a home.
Under Contract
When you go under contract on a home, there is no doubt there will be many steps between "pending" and "closed". We will help manage the timeline to ensure all dates within the contract are met or handled appropriately. We will also provide a list of helpful contacts from home inspectors to contractors and more. We will also open up the transaction with the title company identified within the contract.
As closing day nears, we will verify all ducks are in a row and help with the transition from seller to YOU! Once the sale has been recorded with the county we will get you the keys to your new home!