LaDonna Collins ReMax Heritage, 1900 NW Outer Road, Blue Springs, MO (2026)

07/04/2023

It’s time to grill, chill, and light up the sky! Happy 4th of July. Be careful. Enjoy the day.

06/23/2023

Once you are in your new home, while trying to figure out what light switch does what, you will also have to deal with the new mail. Thankfully, Brenda Bland with Prosperity Home Mortgage, our lending officer, warned us to not respond to any emails or mail that didn’t directly come from her. This is difficult since many companies trying to get your business will make it look like they are affiliated with your lender.

We’ve been in our new home just a few weeks and I’m getting mail daily. Here’s what I’m finding:

• Each one has some sort of warning. The batch pictured says “Important Notice”, “Response Needed”, “**FINAL NOTICE**” and my favorite “Recorded Deed Notice”. You’ve already taken a giant leap into a new home with many changes. They are hoping you will respond out of fear to their mail.
• Of the ones I have pictured, here is what each is about:
o Life and Disability Insurance
o Mortgage protection plans
o “important matter regarding your mortgage” with no other information.
o A service to verify your home is listed in your name for $109. Everything they offer was already provided to us from our title company, lender, and agent. Everything they offer is also readily available to you from the courthouse.
o Home warranty
o Mystery – you have to call to find out what they are selling.
• Each item included our names, our address, the name of our mortgage company, the amount we borrowed, account numbers (all made up), the date we closed and other details about our house that can easily be found on public records.
• Each did have small print with a disclaimer that they were not affiliated with my lender and did not get the information from them.

Personally, I would never do business with any of these companies that use fear and trickery as part of their sales tactics.

If your lender forgot to warn you about this onslaught of mail, consider yourself warned. When in doubt, contact your lender.

06/22/2023

Now for the not so fun part, MOVING! This is the time you start asking yourself “When did I get so much stuff”?

There are many different moving solutions available to you. You could hire a moving company where all you must do is put things in boxes and allow them to do the heavy lifting. There are even companies that will provide you with hard plastic moving boxes that are dropped off and then picked up once empty from your new home. Your agent will have all kinds of options to tell you about with some of these companies even providing discounts on behalf of the agent.

You can find boxes on Facebook Market place, Craigslist and local stores.

Make sure to label boxes well and have them moved directly into that room. This will help when it comes time to unpack.

Enjoy discovering your new home!

06/21/2023

A day or two before closing, you’ll have the chance to walk through the home one more time to make sure nothing has changed from the time you first looked at the house and went under contract until the closing date.

The seller will close before you, signing the home over to you at the time they are funded or receive the money you have agreed to pay for the house. You will sign a stack of paper to make everything legal.

You are now a new homeowner!!!

06/20/2023

Once you’ve found your home, made an offer, had your offer accepted, had your inspection and your home appraisal, your lender will now review everything.

Your complete approval comes once all your information has been reviewed by the lender’s underwriting department. This is completed once you’ve found a house, go under contract and have a home appraisal completed. When everything checks out, you’ll be notified that you are “cleared to close”. Those are magic words when you’re buying a home.

You will need to line up your homeowner’s insurance policy and schedule the utilities to be added under your name.

You’re almost to the finish line!

06/19/2023

There are several fees involved in buying a house. If you’re like me, you want to know about these so you can be prepared.

Earnest Money: When you put an offer on a house and go under contract, you’ll provide an earnest deposit to the title company. This is $1,000 to $10,000 depending on the value of the house. Figure 1% of the purchase price.

Appraisal Money: Your lender will require an appraisal of the house. This will run $500 to $600, again, depending on the value of the house.

Inspection Money: Your primary inspection will run $400 to $1,000 depending on the size of the house. There are other inspections that will be required depending on amenities such as swimming pool, septic tank, or chimney.

If you are a first-time homebuyer, your lender may have programs that help with these costs.

06/16/2023

Once you’re under contract, you will have a set number of days to have a home inspection and appraisal done. Your home inspector will go through the home and provide you with a report on everything they find. You need to understand, the inspector can only give you a review based on what they see that day. They cannot see inside the walls.

Based on the inspection, you can request repairs or renegotiate the agreement. If the owner makes repairs, you’ll have another inspection to assure the work was done as requested.

The appraisal is done for your lender. Their goal is to determine the value of the home you are looking to buy. Your lender will not loan you more than what this value is.

06/15/2023

You’ve found a home you want to buy and it’s time to make an offer. Your offer is submitted on a legal form.

Depending on the housing market, you might have to submit your best offer to beat out other offers. Your agent will walk you through every step of this process.

The homeowner may return a counteroffer. Your agent will negotiate for you. Once you come to an agreement, you’ll put down some earnest money. This is a deposit to show you are serious in your offer. This money is held by the title company until closing and will be taken off the purchase price of the home.

Here are some ways you can sweeten the deal:
1. Offer over asking.
2. Increase your earnest money.
3. Offer an appraisal gap. As an example, if you offer $160,000 and the home appraises for $150,000 you can pay the difference out of pocket.
4. You can offer an “As Is” or “In Its Present Condition” addendum you will not request repairs following the home inspection. This addendum has three options:
a. You can do an inspection, the seller will make no repairs, you can cancel the contract based on the inspection.
b. You can do an inspection, the seller will make no repairs, you cannot cancel the contract based on the inspection.
c. You cannot do an inspection, the seller will make no repairs, you cannot cancel the contract based on the inspection.
5. You can waive the inspection, but this is NOT recommended.
When both parties come to an agreement, you are officially under contract!

06/14/2023

House hunting can be fun and exciting time, but it can be overwhelming as well. I highly recommend keeping a notebook with notes on the homes you look at. If you end up looking at several, you’ll find they all start to blend together.

This is where your agent will really help you. She will be pointing out things you might miss or be advising you on things to consider about each home. Her goal at this time is to provide you with every bit of information she can so you can make the most informed decision.

She will point out room sizes, any faults she can see, share the seller’s disclosure, and asking things like “Where would you put the couch”, “Would your dining room set fit in this room”, and “Will you be okay with the stairs” just to name a few.

This would be a good time to have your “House List” in hand. If the home you’re looking at doesn’t fit, walk away. If the house has big flaws, consider what it would take to fix the situation in a way that would make you happy.

Wait for the house that makes you think “WOW, this is the one.”

06/13/2023

At your consultation with your agent, you will be asked if you have a lender? If you do not, she or he will offer up 2 or 3 names of lenders you can contact. These are lenders they have worked with in the past, are trusted, and known to give superior service.

There are many lenders out there and they all offer a lot of the same things, but some have special loans such as First Time Home Buyers, First Responder, Teachers/Teaching staff, self-employed, doctors and lawyers just to name a few.

Your lender will request several things to get the loan process started: last 30 days of pay stubs, 2 years of W-2’s and tax returns, bank statements, and an application.

Your lender will be able to help you determine what you can afford depending on your debt-to-income ratio (DTI). It’s important to work within your budget and still be able to put money into savings.

You will be provided with either a pre-qualification or a pre-approval. A pre-qualification is a very basic approval based on running some of the financial information you provide. A pre-approval is a more thorough review of your finances and a stronger tool you need before you can make an offer on a home.

Your agent and your lender are the team that will help you find the home you desire.

06/12/2023

Now that your agent has set you up with a saved search, the home shopping adventure really begins. Your agent has taken all information gathered from your conversation about the house you’re looking for and put those criteria in a MLS search.

Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is where all real estate agents list homes they are selling for their clients.

Each morning, or at the time interval you decide, you’ll get an email with a link to homes that match your desires. From the email, you’ll click on the link that will open a list of homes. When you click on the address you can see more information about the listed house. You can then rate the house according to your thoughts on the house.
Solid red heart – I like it and would like to see it, or send me more information.
Yellow hollow heart – It’s interesting, I’m not sure, give me some more information.
Trash can – This is not a good fit.

You can also leave notes for your agent and your agent will leave notes for you. This is a great tool to help you find your perfect home!

06/08/2023

Now that you have found an agent, you will be asked to sign several documents and contracts. I’m going to give you a quick fly over the contracts, but your agent will explain everything and make sure you have no questions before you sign on the dotted line.

• Missouri Broker Disclosure Form – this explains how your agent will represent you.
• Choice Available to you in Missouri – this is a form that explains what each type of agent does on your behalf.
• Exclusive Buyer Agency Contract – This is the big contract that will explain what price range and area the agent is searching for you, how your agent will represent you and a bunch more legal things you will need to read for yourself.

My advice, read everything. Make sure you understand what it all means. You’re signing a legal document. When you’re signing these documents, you’re saying you’ve read them, understand them, and agree. Don’t worry, your agent will walk you through everything. You won’t have to make sense of the legal jargon on your own.

LaDonna Collins ReMax Heritage

07/04/2023

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