An Overview of the Buying Process

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this graphic must be worth at least a few times that. There are a lot of steps involved in purchasing a home! However, that's exactly why people use real estate agents instead of trying to navigate the process themselves (in addition to our access to property databases and familiarity with the necessary contracts).

The first leg of the process is intuitive to most people- basically, you find a real estate agent as well as a lender to discuss your preapproval (purchasing capabilities). Your agent will then help you identify, view, and make offers on a home until you reach contract agreement with the seller. From then on, a few processes happen in parallel with various parties- inspectors, the lender, and the title company. All this leads up to the day of closing when, assuming all goes as planned, title is officially transferred, funds are exchanged, and the keys are handed off! 

Links to more on these steps