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Buying a Home in 2025

1. Pre-Approval The pre-approval is the FIRST thing you should do when planning on purchasing a home. This involves giving a lender ALL of your information so they can give you an accurate assessment of how much home you can afford.

2. Choosing a Buyer’s Agent The buyer's agent you choose should: 1-Be a FULL-TIME real estate agent 2-Be an investor themselves 3-Be available to you at all times 4-NEVER pressure you in any way 5-Be interested in a LONG-TERM professional relationship as your advisor.

3. List of wants/needs Filtering out properties that won't work for you is a very efficient way to ensure that you don't waste time chasing properties that don't work for you, and spend your time in homes that are qualified candidates for your dream home!

4. Tour homes Focusing on layout, immediate neighborhood, and how the particular home you're in would work for you is best. This is also the time to discuss with your real estate agent about the long-term viability of each particular home so you can choose the one that works best for your specific situation.

5. Writing an offer The offer that you write should be based on specific numbers, your real estate agents assessment of the seller's situation, and data that your agent has shown you. This is normally done electronically so that you have a forever record of what your offer is.

6. Earnest Money Earnest money is a deposit you make(after the seller accepts your offer) that shows the seller how serious you are with your offer. This amount should be at least 1% of the offer price(more if you want to show that you're really serious) and will go towards your down payment, closing costs, or refunded back to you at closing.

7. Inspection You ALWAYS want to do an inspection OR read a valid inspection report if the seller does a pre-listing inspection. A pre-inspection(an inspection completed BEFORE you write an offer) will allow you to waive your inspection contingency IF there aren't any big issues. This will put your offer at the top of the list for the seller.

8. Appraisal This is where your lender sends an appraiser to the property to make sure that the home is worth the amount of money that they're going to lend you. If the appraisal comes in low, we simply go to the seller and ask them to reduce the purchase price.

9. Closing & Keys This combines multiple parts and includes you signing your paperwork, the seller signing their paperwork, Title/escrow/your lender will ad some things in as well and then on closing day, they send everything to the county to record the deed. This is when you officially become the owner of your new home!

Words to Know

Equity noun

eq·​ui·​ty | \ ˈe-kwə-tē \

Equity is the difference between how much your home is worth and how much you owe on your mortgage.

Escrow noun

es‧crow | \ e-ˈskrō \

Escrow is a legal arrangement in which a third party temporarily holds money or property until a particular condition has been met (such as the fulfillment of a purchase agreement).

Earnest Money noun

ear·nest mon·ey | \ er · nuhst-muh-nee \

Earnest money, or good faith deposit, is a sum of money you put down to demonstrate your seriousness about buying a home. In most cases, earnest money acts as a deposit on the property you're looking to buy. You deliver the amount when signing the purchase agreement or the sales contract.

How to Choose a Buyer's Agent

Choosing a buyers agent may be one of the most important decisions that you make in your home buying journey. You will want a buyers agent who has experience, great reviews, and a personality that you trust. This person should be someone that you feel will be an advisor to you for years to come. Real estate markets fluctuate and the ability for you to make the correct decisions will depend on the advice you receive. A great real estate agent will want a long-term professional relationship with you as well. Here are some other attributes you will want in your buyers agent: 1-They're a full time real estate agent. You don't want someone negotiating your hundreds of thousands of dollars if they're doing it as a part time gig. 2-They're an investor themselves. This will give you someone who is actively purchasing properties, looking at neighborhoods, transportation, schools, and where the specific neighborhood will be in the future...All things that will benefit you. 3-They make themselves available to you. Most real estate is done at night and on the weekends so don't settle for an agent who tells you they have date night or aren't available at certain times. Be selfish! 4-They work with both buyers and sellers. The ability to write a great offer that speaks to a seller is gained by an agent having conversations with sellers and really understanding where their pain points are so that you can address these in your offer.

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TESTIMONIALS

If you ~don't~ want a real estate agent who pushes you into every home available, and if you ~don't~ want a real estate agent who agrees with everything you say just to make a quick buck, John Bryson is the agent for you.

– Jackson & Raisa F.

I'm 100% convinced that John is the greatest real estate agent to ever exist! He helped us get the first house we ever bid on as homebuying newbies!

– Alisa M.

To say John helped my wife and I buy our first home earlier this year would be a massive understatement. My wife and I took the first time homebuyer class with John in early 2020...

– Josh T.

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