Moving to Los Gatos? Here’s a 5 Step Home Buying Process
Los Gatos is a small-town community with a beautiful Mediterranean climate in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. With a population of just over 30,000, this is a tight-knit community that has a lot to offer in terms of outdoor activities, nightlife, and community events. Downtown Los Gatos has great coffee shops, independent boutique stores, amazing restaurants, and even more fun things to do at night.
But, if you’re looking for something more serene, there are peaceful hikes all throughout the area, including St. Joseph Hill’s Open Space Preserve, Mount Umanhum, and more. These are just a few of the amazing things to experience in Los Gatos. If you want to explore more and are looking for a home in the area, the Dawn Thomas team at Silicon Valley & Beyond can help make your dream a reality.
The Dawn Thomas team at Silicon Valley & Beyond excels in helping customers find new amazing homes in the Los Gatos, and greater Silicon Valley area. Let’s take a look at some things you should expect during the home buying process.
1) Hire the Dawn Thomas Team in Los Gatos, California
Our team at Silicon Valley & Beyond are experienced real estate professionals and can help provide you with advice and assistance through every step of the home buying process. The Dawn Thomas team is a group of client-focused professionals whose skills and real estate experience working the Silicon Valley area provide us with insight and expertise to help ensure that you are making the best decisions possible for your specific needs.
Led by Silicon Valley expert, Dawn Thomas, our team knows the ins and outs of the real estate business. Thomas holds a certification from the Program on Negotiation from Harvard Law School and will ensure that you make the best personal and financial decisions possible when searching for a home in Los Gatos.
Give us a call today to learn more about how we can help get your home buying journey started. We are also available to set up a virtual meeting if that’s what you would prefer.
2) Shopping and Making an Offer
When looking for a home to buy, it is important to know what you want to look for. Take note of the needs and wants of your personal situation and inform our team at Silicon Valley & Beyond so they know what to look for as well. Along with the design and other personal preferences, one question that you should be asking is if you want a home warranty, which is different than a homeowner’s insurance
Side note: before officially shopping for your home, it is best to get preapproved for a mortgage to ensure that you are ready to roll with a home loan when you find that perfect house. A lot will go into your pre-approval process including your debt-to-income ratio, credit scores and reports, and more. If you don’t have a resource to get you pre-qualified, the Dawn Thomas team is here to help.
After finding the right home with the Dawn Thomas Team, and an offer is submitted, you will want to schedule an inspection of the home from the inspector, which our team can help handle.
3) Negotiation and Accepted Offer
A verbal agreement is not a binding contract. Until all parties have signed a purchase agreement nothing is official. Before that can happen, both buyer and seller must agree on a purchase price. When The Dawn Thomas team is negotiating the price, we take everything into consideration including home inspection and how well the home fits with what you are looking for, and more. Once accepted, and after some negotiation, we should soon have an accepted offer.
Once an offer is accepted, the Dawn Thomas team will need to wire your earnest money to the title company within one day. Earnest money will be different by the community. For instance, in Los Gatos, the earnest money is typically 3% of the purchase price of the house.
4) Moving Forward
After the offer is accepted and buyer inspections have been completed, there are a few more steps in the process. For one, our team will review the contingency process with you and help ensure that there are no contingencies holding up the buying process. From there, the Dawn Thomas team will work to get the home appraised – a home appraisal is required by the mortgage lender as a part of the loan approval process.
5) Crossing The Finishing Line
While you’ve been preparing for your move, the lender will have been working on the loan while it’s underwriting. As the process moves forward and you are near the close date, the mortgage lender should reach out to notify you that you are clear to close and that your mortgage loan has been approved.
Upon hearing this, it is time to prepare for the down payment, which your earnest money payment will apply to. The Dawn Thomas team are experts of the home buying process and we can help inform you of any additional fees, payments, and closing costs that will apply during this time and your escrow and title officer will give you the final amount. During this time, the final walk-through will be scheduled as well. Following these final steps, you will finally review and sign your mortgage and purchase paperwork.
Getting Help Buying a Home in Silicon Valley
The home-buying process can be a bit tricky but have no fear, our team at Silicon Valley and Beyond are here to help. Whether you have some initial questions about the home buying process or want to get more in-depth on something like deciding between an FHA loan or a conventional loan, our team is more than happy to answer any questions you have and help you get started on this new path.
If you are interested in finding a home in one of the Silicon Valley communities, please reach out to our team and we can help usher you along in the process.
