Tom's Buyer Services Plan
In today's real estate market, the buyer is in control. As a buyer, you have an enormous wealth of property information, financial options, and many Realtors® potentially available to assist you with your property purchasing decisions. You also have personal needs, wants, and constraints that have to be considered in the process. As an Accredited Buyer Representative it is my goal to provide the best service and property information available consistent with your personal desires and considerations. My Buyer Services Plan is designed to enable you to make property-purchasing decisions as an empowered and informed Buyer.

The Working Relationship
In order for me to do my part in providing you the best services and appropriate information, I must first learn about your needs, desires, and motivations regarding the property you wish to purchase. Your financial situation, household size, number of vehicles, desired location, commuting distances, and preferred housing type are but a few of the items needed to be shared before we can begin searching in earnest for the right property at the right price for you. If at all possible I will want to meet with you, share information, and devise a joint working plan.

Choosing your financing
An important decision many Buyers have to make is where to acquire financing to buy the home or property desired. There is a proliferation of Credit Unions, Banks, Mortgage Brokers, and Mortgage lenders that provide loans in dozens of different categories and for a variety of different prices and interest rates. Finding the right lending institution and pre-qualifying for a loan amount in your comfort zone will be one of our first tasks. It is during this process that we'll be able to determine your estimated monthly payments, necessary down payment requirements, and customary closing costs on properties of similar value. Usually a quick interview with our in-house mortgage representatives will provide us with enough information on financing to get started looking for properties appropriately valued.

Shopping for Property
Shopping for property can be fun, scary, emotional, frustrating, rewarding, easy or difficult. Some Buyers find properties that are suitable quickly while others discover there are no available homes on the current market fulfilling their needs. For these latter cases, a close monitoring of newly available properties on the market and a plan of quick action to review these new listings can be developed.

Finding the Right Property
Finding the right property isn't enough. It also has to be for the right price. At this part of the process, gathering information on the property, the seller's situation, location, neighborhood, and community issues impacting the value of the property is crucial. I will prepare a comparative market analysis (CMA) to determine the sold price of similarly situated properties in the neighborhood. We will want to know as much as possible as quickly as possible in order to develop a competitive offer that you are comfortable with and that can be supported in negotiations with the seller.

Offers to Purchase
The "Real Estate Purchase and Sales Agreement with Earnest Money Provisions", a standardized form of both the Coeur d'Alene and the Spokane Association of Realtors®, is the most common form utilized in this market for real estate transactions. The form will be shared with you during out first meeting and it is at this point in the Buying process it will be utilized to make an offer to purchase your chosen property. Before submitting the offer we will review available options, purchase requirements, and contingencies if needed. Home warranties, property inspections, necessary repairs, financing, sale of your home, and a variety of other issues can be addressed in the offer. I will recommend that you have your potential new home inspected, even if it is a newly built home. The cost is small, typically $200 to $300, compared to the potential cost of major repairs or fixes you might have to make after you accept title. The Agreement form contains an Inspection Contingency clause that gives you a specified number of days to have your own inspector (there are many available) review the property. The Seller, as with any other contingent offer, will have a specified number of days to give you an answer whether or not the offer is acceptable. Together with your earnest Money check, the offer will be promptly delivered to the Seller's agent.

Acceptance
Between the Offer to Purchase and Acceptance of the terms by the Seller is the time when negotiations between the parties may take place. Counter-offers from the Seller are not unusual. If your terms are acceptable to the Seller, a proposed date for Closing and Possession will be established and the Agreement will be signed by all the necessary parties. Following Acceptance of your offer, the Seller is required to disclosure known property defects and other items required by law. Contingencies must be fulfilled or waived. If Seller disclosures or your inspection reveals, for example, there is something wrong with the property, you have the choice of either asking the seller to repair or replace the defects or you can terminate the contract and have your earnest money returned to you. The decision on how to proceed in this kind of situation will be yours. If you ask the seller instead to repair or replace the items of concern to you, the Seller may refuse, reject your offer, and terminate the contract. Usually agreement can be reached in all but the most difficult of situations through "Good Faith" negotiations between the parties.

Choosing the Deal
With agreement and the fulfillment of contingent and negotiated items, the final step in the purchase process is the transfer of title and possession of the property to you the Buyer. The function is actually performed by the closing agent or attorney. Your participation is required in Closing. Usually you'll meet with the closing Officer who'll go over the forms and explain the process. In some cases it can take a couple of hours and give you a case of writer’s cramp from signing the myriad of required places. The closing agent will then prepare the necessary paperwork, accept and transfer funds between the parties and their respective financial institutions, and attends to the recording, taxes, fees, and other issues necessary for the transfer of title to the property. Some lending institutions may want to take a last look at the document before title is recorded. At the conclusion of closing and transfer of funds you can usually take possession of your new property.

Tom's Commitment
Throughout the purchasing process you will receive from me the benefits of a fiduciary relationship. These fiduciary duties include Trust, Loyalty, Confidentiality, Disclosure, and Obedience to you, the Buyer. Some of these duties will continue into the future and I hope the memory of the good service you receive will also endure.