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Buying a Condo

Putting together your offer

You have been searching online and touring Belltown Condos, you have found the right home and you're preapproved. Let's put that offer together.

In preparing your offer we will discuss all the terms of the offer to ensure that you fully understand the elements in a contract to purchase a home. We will prepare all the necessary paperwork. The Purchase and Sale Agreement is very detailed and we will need to discuss the specific terms with you. Here is a list of items that will need to be outlined in the offer:

1. Purchase price. This seems obvious but what is less obvious is whether or not the asking price is inline with other recent sales in the neighborhood. We can provide a market analysis to help establish fair market value for the home.

2. Earnest money. This is money that you will be presenting with your offer. We recommend up to 3% of the purchase price but is negotiable. This money goes towards the purchase price of the home and is refunded to you if the sale fails on a contingency. Be sure to bring along your checkbook when writing an offer.

3. Inspection. We will want to include an inspection contingency with the offer. If the inspection turns up major problems we can request that they be repaired before closing or we can terminate the sale and your earnest money will be returned to you.

4. Financing contingency. This simply states that the purchase will be contingent on whether or not you can obtain a loan to purchase the home. Even though you have your pre-approval, we often recommend this contingency.

5. Closing date. This is the date that you take posession of the home. Generally we look for 30-days or less but this is negotiable and can go longer.

6. Included items in the sale. We will want to outline all included items in the sale (such as appliances or any personal property).

Once the paperwork is drawn, we will get together and review the contract. You will sign all pages and we are then ready to present your offer to the seller. We will be representing you, as the buyer, and negotiating on your behalf.

In todays market, it is not uncommon for an offer to get bounced back and forth between parties until all terms have been agreed to. Once all terms are agreed to, we have "mutual acceptance" and will then move forward to complete the purchase. We will be involved all the way through closing and through the final hand-off of the home. We will guide you all the way through the entire process.

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