Before you start looking for a home, you will need to know how much you can actually spend. The best way to do that is to get prequalified for a mortgage. A pre-approval letter is usually required for offer submission.

Start looking for homes within your price range. Most people choose to work with a real estate agent. Agents can provide you with helpful information on homes and neighborhoods that isn’t easily accessible to the general public. Their knowledge of the home buying process, negotiating skills, and familiarity with the area can be very valuable to your decision. Also, it doesn’t cost you anything to use an agent – they’re compensated from the commission paid by the seller of the house.

Take as much time as you need to find the right home. Once you choose one, work with your agent to prepare a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes in the same neighborhood. Key offer terms include purchase price, due diligence fee, earnest money, length of due diligence period, and closing day. Your agent will then prepare the Offer to Purchase Contract for you to sign. Along with the offer, a photocopy or image of the due diligence check is required by some sellers.

Seller will respond by accepting, countering or rejecting your offer. Negotiation takes place while seller or buyer counters. When it comes to offer negotiation, a lot depends on the market. The local market condition is the single most important factor in negotiation strategy. Your agent should know the neighborhood well and be able to tell you what kind of market you are in. Once the two parties reach an agreement and sign, the home is “under contract” with a pending/contingent status, and the due diligence fee must be delivered to the seller immediately. In North Carolina, in most cases, the due diligence fee is non-refundable.

Within a few days of your offer being accepted, your agent will help arrange inspections. Work with your agent to determine if there is any other inspection (e.g. pest, radon) needed in addition to the general home inspection. You will receive a report on the home inspector’s findings. You can then decide on which items you want to ask the seller to fix before closing. Before due diligence period ends, if any major problems are found or for other reasons, the buyer has the right to terminate the purchase contract and get the earnest money back.

Soon after the offer is accepted, buyer also needs to pay the earnest money. This fund is given to an agreed-upon escrow agent - typically this is the closing attorney, or one of the two real estate brokerages involved in the transaction who deposits it into a trust account until closing. The earnest money deposit is usually larger than the due diligence fee. Like the due diligence fee, this deposit protects the seller and helps ensure the buyer is “in earnest” about purchasing their property. If buyer decides, BEFORE the end of the due diligence period, that they no longer want to move forward with the purchase, they will lose the due diligence money and get the earnest money back. If, however, buyer decides to pull out before closing but AFTER the end of the due diligence period, they will lose both their earnest money and due diligence money.

Lenders will arrange for an appraiser to provide an independent estimate of the value of the property you are buying. The appraiser is a member of a third-party company and is not directly associated with the lender. If the appraisal comes in low, buyer might need to make up the difference in cash at closing (i.e. the down pay amount will go up.)

• Housing insurance: your lender will typically require that you purchase home insurance to be effective on the closing date. As you start the loan application, start looking at home insurance offers. • Final Walk-through: prior to closing, your agent will arrange a final walk-through with you. The goal of the walk-through is to ensure the property's condition hasn't changed since your last visit, that any agreed-upon repairs have been made. • Fund wiring for closing: prior to closing, buyer will receive the Closing Disclosure (CD)/HUD-1 from closing attorney which will indicate the amount to be wired to attorney. Review the CD for accuracy, and wire fund to the closing attorney. • Utility accounts transfer: contact city/town/utility company to transfer accounts to your name to be effective starting from the closing date.