You Do Not Need Luck To Buy A Home If You Understand The Process

You can wear green and still lose the house if you don’t understand the rules of the game. We keep the St Patrick’s Day energy going while we walk through a practical, start-to-finish home buying process that helps buyers stay calm, protected, and prepared, whether you’re a first-time home buyer or you haven’t moved in years.

We start where every smart purchase begins: mortgage pre-approval. We talk about why the number in your head is not the same as what a lender can support, how monthly payment comfort matters as much as purchase price, and how a good lender can create a step-by-step plan if credit, debt, or cash to close isn’t quite there yet. We also share how down payment assistance programs can change the rent-versus-own conversation for buyers who assume homeownership is out of reach.

From there, we break down the house hunt and why it’s easier when you treat it like elimination, not an endless search for perfection. Then we move into offers and negotiations, including earnest money and the Texas option period, so you understand what “skin in the game” really means and when you can walk away. We dig into inspections, repair credits, and appraisals, including what happens when an appraiser’s opinion doesn’t match the contract price.

We finish with closing day realities at the title company, the difference between closing and funding, and the bigger point: closing isn’t the finish line, it’s the beginning of building equity, financial stability, and long-term wealth through real estate. If this helped you, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so more buyers can find it.

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Transcript

Welcome And St Patrick’s Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the House Next Door with Barbara Gillio. And Anthony Harris. Where real estate meets reality.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Welcome back to The House Next Door.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Yes, where Real Estate Meets Reality. I'm Barbara Gillio. And I'm Anthony Harris. And we are also the House Next Door Real Estate Group. Yay! So excited to always announce that. It's a new thing for us.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Right. And thanks for joining us. That's what we did for St. Patrick's Day, is now we're a team, though.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

We're a team. And this is a special holiday episode because it is uh St. Patrick's Day right around the corner. And uh so we wanted to do kind of a little homage to St. Patty's Day.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Yeah, and for those that are just listening, which I think most of them do, is just listen. They don't look at the video. I know me too.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Because we video is not our friend in any way, shape, or form.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Me and Barbara are wearing our lucky St. Patrick's Day green t-shirts. Um but don't watch. We'll we'll upload a picture or something. I don't know. Don't watch. Just listen. Please do imagine it.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Please do not watch us.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

We were just talking about me and Barbara before this episode. We were talking about doing a live, and I was like, does it go on Facebook Live? Or what's that case? And I think we probably shouldn't do a live. It'd be a disaster.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

No, I think we should. And I think we should embrace the chaos. Um, but we have to figure out where it goes live.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

We'd probably go viral.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

We might get a virus. I'm not sure we would go viral.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Annual chlamydia, analts.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Definitely we'll get a virus and not go viral. But but we gotta make sure we know where it's going live so it's not just going live to the void.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Um, knowing our luck, we probably go live to Russia or something. So who are these people?

unknown 2:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

But nevertheless, here we are. And we're not.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

And we're doing a virtual again. So our next episode, we will be in our normal little setting.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Um it's barber.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

No, we do because we have it. We already we batch record, we already have it, and we are we're in our normal thing, but we're we're trying, we're mixing it up.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

We're so out of whack right now.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

We're just mixing it up, like some virtual, some in person, and some on location.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

And then some in vertexes, and some in vortexes.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

So anyway, whatever.

A 21st Birthday After St Patrick’s

SPEAKER_00 2:44

But St. Paddy's Day, so Saint Paddy's Day is always kind of like lackluster for me. And by the way, let's just appreciate the word lackluster. It's not used often, and I think we need to bring it back.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Yeah, what does it mean? I don't know what it means.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Well, just what it says lackluster, boring, like it it lacks as an avoid of luster and shine. Okay, we need to bring this up dictionary. So, because my birthday's the 18th, and so everybody's hung over and had all the fun on the seventh uh on the 17th. So my birthday is like and when I turned to 21 I um we I went to this okay, so that was a long time ago, because I'm gonna be 51. And I went to the I lived in San Luis Obispo, that's where I grew up, and we went to this uh pub called the Frog and Peach Pub, which I'm pretty sure is not there anymore. I don't pay attention when I go back home and visit. Pubs aren't those pubs are not on my radar. I'd rather be in Pasarobles having wine. I've elevated. But anyway, and I was living with my my sister and her best friend, and it was just her best friend and I that were at the pub because my sister had fallen off her horse the day before and she was in the hospital.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

And uh there was figuratively, and then I was like, oh crap. No, no, she really fell off her horse.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

She had this crazy horse, she was riding by herself out, like trail riding. The horse dumped her in a field and broke her ankle, and the ambulance had to come out into the field, pick her up, she had to go into surgery. It was a whole I was so mad at her. I was like, Yeah, that's how you you messed up my 21st birthday by hurting yourself. But her friend and I went out and there was nobody in the bar at all because they were all home because it's the 18th.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Drunk the day before.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Yeah, nobody's in the bar on the 18th. And she went home with bartender, and I was just like, and there's like three people in the bar. My sister's friend hooked up with the bartender, and I went home.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

It sounds like a fun 21st birthday.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

And worried about my sister. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Sounds great.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Wonderful, right? So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Well, something that we're that we do on St.

Pedal Pub Tradition And Logistics

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Patrick's Day is I think we might have talked about this in another episode, but um, we get in Austin, they have the pedal pub, which it fits it's a bike and it fits 14 people. Four. Yes. And so we we rented out the whole bike so that we don't get set with strangers. Um and they play music and it's BYOB, and you go to three bars, and so like, and it's over like two or three hours, and you just sit there, you drink on the way, you have fun, you get people honking, and then you go into the bar, have a drink, and then um the cool thing though is that the last time that so every time we do it, they change the bars that you go to. And so the last time, I don't think uh any of us have been to any of the bars that we went to, and they were all downtown, so it's cool to see the city and learn more, you know, about where we live.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Yeah, it was so we're doing that again. I think this is our third, third time doing it.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Okay, so a couple of logistic questions for you on that. So when you're doing the bike pedal, are you guys really pedaling or is it like the the the the host is the guy who's or the girl who's really like pulling the weight of you all?

SPEAKER_01 6:18

So there's a motor on the bike. It's not great. Okay, it's not great, but last time there was five of us, and we might have not peddled unless we had to going up a hill because the motor can't get the bike up a hill.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Well, and if you're drinking, don't you just forget to pedal?

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Well, yeah, yeah, pretty much. And uh the things I remember is that the next day your butt is so sore from sitting on the bike ped, like the bike seat. Um, and so you feel that for like another three days.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Um What about potty breaks? Do you get potty breaks?

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yeah, when you go to the bar, you can take a potty break out the gun. Um and I don't remember if there's two or three bars that you go to, but do you ever like feel like you're gonna fall off? Um occasionally when we're having fun, because the host will have you like scream and whatever, but they tell you they're like, hold on, and but you have little back support. Like there's not much back support. So Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Yeah, I was thinking if you didn't have back support, you would just be like, what's the end of the bike?

SPEAKER_01 7:26

So it's like a long, a long bike. At the end of it, it has a bench up that fits like three people that actually has bike back support, but you don't pedal on those seats. So that's where you would sit.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Those are the seats you want.

unknown 7:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

But last time we didn't have enough people. We only had like five people, so we all had to be pedaling. But this time we have at least eight confirmed.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

So eight confirmed, okay. Well, yeah, there's I mean, now it's like you really need to invite people because it's all about, you know, the workout at this point.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

So are you signing up too? No. You're going?

unknown 7:57

No.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

I'm gonna just say this right now.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

But it's your birthday, my my fat butt is not it's better than the the indoor cycle.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Yes, that is true. It is better than the indoor cycle, but I don't do that either.

Painted Churches And Spring Jamboree Plans

SPEAKER_00 8:19

No, for St. Paddy's Day, like officially St. Paddy's Day, I'm gonna go see the painted churches.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

And then go to the copper shot. So that's like a really old lady boring thing to do.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

But you get to you get to go see them. Does Craig jump off?

SPEAKER_00 8:39

He's gonna take off, so he's gonna take pictures, and um I think my friend Judy's coming, and it's just gonna be a little little outing to see all the churches and then go get uh moonshine at the copper shop downtown Bash Drop.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Nice. Has Judy been to Bass Drop?

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Yes, she's been to Bass Drop. Everybody who comes to Bass Drop just falls in love with it. They have this other expectation of Bass Drop, but Bass Drop is truly like this cute little historic, small, true Texas town. It feels like a Hallmark movie. I've said it a million times and I'll keep saying it.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

We so we need to get on track, but one more thing I'm gonna touch on is the jamboree.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Touch it, touch it all day long.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

The ch the jamboree that you're gonna have a float at. Yes, yes, so that's coming up in April, mid-April.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

April 11th is the day of the Smithville Spring Jamboree, and the uh theme is a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

This is gonna be Barbara's first jamboree.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yes, and and I'm also co-chair of the garden club float for the jamboree. So I'm all in.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

I am all it's a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

It is.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

The schools get off, and yeah, it's big. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Isn't that cool? Like a small town where you have a spring jamboree where kids are out of school, you're doing floats, we're gonna be in costume. It's again living my best hallmark life.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Are you gonna be the pig from Toy Story?

SPEAKER_00 10:03

No, I think I'm either gonna be a pioneer boy or a pioneer girl.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

I can't. You should probably be a girl.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Well, I feel bad because Gail's gonna be a pioneer boy, and she's like, you cannot let me just be a boy here all on my own, Barbara. And I'm like, okay, I could I can do that. So if nobody else signs up for a boy, Gail and I will be the boys.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

There you go. Somebody's gotta do it.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

Somebody's gonna cross-dress. It might as well be me.

The Home Buying Treasure Map

SPEAKER_00 10:32

All right, so let's get on to our theme.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Yeah, you want to jump into what Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Okay, so we are gonna be informative today. And it's one of the things, but we're gonna be serious for a minute. It's one of the things that we kind of gloss over a lot as realtors, especially when we've been in the industry for so long, is we forget a lot of times the home buying process. And it's so important. And so we're gonna go through um as quickly but yet as formatively as possible, the whole process from start to finish of buying a home. But since it is St. Patty's Day, we want to throw a little St. Patty's cheesy thing to it. So, okay, here we go. It's all about the pot of gold, the house being the pot of gold. Um, so this is a treasure map. Okay, I gotta read it because you know I'm gonna forget it. The treasure map of the home buying process. Okay, everyone thinks the house is the pot of gold, but the rear, real treasure is understanding the process.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

So you can even get it right by reading it.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

I really couldn't. You are not wrong.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

So we'll see how I can butcher it up too.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Yeah, yeah. Okay, so we're gonna go down the treasure path of the process.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

So the first step, and I think this is on our brain because me and Barbara are making our buyers booklets and stuff, and just revisiting like the and I have a lot of first-time home buyers right now, so revisiting this.

Pre-Approval And Real Budget Clarity

SPEAKER_01 12:02

But the first step is pre-approval, and here's our little cheesy thing. The luckiest buyers are the most prepared.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

So And that is true, yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Um I was reading my handwriting and I couldn't read it.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

So the luckiest buyers are the most prepared, the lending process.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

What helps us as realtors is off the bat to get pre-approval. And it helps the buyer too. Because, you know, just because you the just because you have a number in your head doesn't mean you can qualify for that number, or you actually know the payment of that number. And another thing that goes with that is that if you meet with a lender and they give you pre-qualification for like, let's say $400,000, but you know that you only want to spend four $20,000, $300 a month, that's a big difference. So we can't be looking at $400,000 homes because we're not going to obtain that payment. And so the pre-approval is really important, not just to know that you can actually buy the home that you want, but to know your budget and work with the lender to make sure that fits in your long-term plans.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Absolutely. So the first part, the most key part is working with the lender to know, okay, yeah, uh this is one, what I can afford. So you're looking at the right houses, and two, I'm comfortable with this monthly payment. And having those two things are like the most crucial part of the process. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

And and working with a good realtor will like me and Barbara, um, will get you like we get to understand your needs and wants. And we have a group of lenders that we work with all the time that we can get you in contact with that would match what you need. Like I have a lender that really specializes in um and investments and rentals and stuff like that, and very investment-minded. And he can do normal houses as well, but that works really well for my investment clients. And I have one that's really good with first-time home buyers.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

So yeah, and it it seems like a scary thing to do, talk to a lender and get pre-approved, but it's actually a really quick and painless process. You can get it done in under 30 minutes. So it seems daunting, but it's not.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

And something to piggyback off of that too is with pre-approval, even if you can't get approved at right now because of your income or your credit or your debt, whatever the case might be, our lenders that we work with are really good at coming up with a plan so that you can buy a home. And, you know, that timeline's gonna be different for everybody. But I had someone that they weren't quite there, but they were almost there. And it only took them a month to fix what they needed to on their credit to be able to buy a home. And, you know, when he got to me, he's like, There's no way that I can buy a house in the next six months. I just I'm not qualified. And and I said, Well, let's get with a lender and see the full picture and let's see how the roadmap of getting there or the treasure map.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

The treasure map. But yeah, you're right. You know, sometimes homeownership seems out of um reach, but you talk to all a lender and you realize it really isn't that far. So it's it's always the great place to start. So the next is I have one more thing on that.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Oh, sorry, yeah. I feel like this is gonna be a long episode. We just keep going.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

Well, we could talk about each step in the process for 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Um, I just recently had a buyer that it's the same one that he thought that it wasn't a it was not attainable, but something that there's day down payment assistance programs that help with the down payment, and he's getting a mortgage less than his rent right now in a brand new home. And so he's not in theory, he shouldn't have maintenance for at least three years. Um, and he's paying rest less than his rent. So that's amazing. And he's getting a check back at closing. Oh my gosh. Yeah, so yeah. For everybody.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Definitely conversations that you want to have because if you're paying a lot in rent, you definitely want to talk to a lender because you could be in a situation similar where you're in a brand new home and um paying less than your rent or close to your rent, depending on the you know, the situation that happens um through the lending process there. But it it is possible, right? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

And now I'll I'll stop my turn. If your attorney is not a good thing. Stop your turn.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

You always need to interrupt me because otherwise I'll just keep talking.

House Hunting By Elimination

SPEAKER_00 16:29

But the next step is following the rainbow, the house hunt. And this is this is my favorite part because I love looking at houses. And this is where, you know, you finally everybody look uses Zillow for pretty much to look for homes, even though we send them our fancy apps from our brokerages. All my clients still look at Zillow. So this is the the scrolling through the Zillow part, right? And we know what we can afford, we know what we want our monthly payment to look like, and now we're looking for that right house. And I always say, because it can be overwhelming, especially in an inventory-heavy market, it's not a process of selection per se, when you're looking at a home, it is a process of elimination. And so when you're looking at these homes, you kind of want to say, what works for me, what doesn't work for me. And so you're eliminating homes until you get to that perfect home rather than feeling like I have to select something. It's like, no, I'm eliminating it, eliminating, okay, that works for me. And I know this because I've eliminated 10 others. So that's kind of how I like to set people up for it. And sometimes like people fall in love with the first house. They know exactly what it's in their budget, it fits all their needs, it's where they need to be, and boom, that's it. They're done. And then other people, it takes it takes a lot of houses to see to understand that and find the one. And it's really cool when your clients have an emotional reaction to a house and it, you know, and it's in their budget. Because I I have a lot of emotional reactions to houses that are not in my budget.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

But it's the ones that you send me, the one that you sent me in Georgetown.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Yes, exactly. So it's it's really great when you see that physical, like they they just get emotional about the home and they're like, oh, this is it. This is my home. I love that when that happens.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

And and I just went through that. We're we're at the end of the step with my clients, but we already found the home. But we went through our walkthrough the other day, and they were just so happy about their home. And they've lived in theirs for 23 years, so, or 24. So it was a big, a big step to sell their home they've built to go to another home.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

To the next step, yeah. So the home, and I think most people are familiar with the house hunt. So we won't spend too much time there. We'll go on to our next step in the process, which is Anthony.

Getting Under Contract With Negotiation

SPEAKER_01 18:56

So the next step is catching the leprechaun. So that's getting the house under contract. The leprechaun is the house.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Yeah, the leprechaun the house is the leprechaun. Sometimes it's a pot of gold, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:11

It's scattered just like us.

unknown 19:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Um, and so this step is where we're negotiating where we found the house. Now let's get it to under contract where it will be your house. And so I think this is the most stressful part of the treasure map. Um well, with this and the next step, they kind of go in hand in hand. Um, but getting it under contract is pretty stressful. I think the most stressful is after you get your inspections. Because at that point, the buyers typically already had an emotion, emotional attachment to the house. So now it's how do we get the best value for the client? Or how do you get the best value as the home buyer? So the next step after that is protecting the gold. So this is where inspection inspections and appraisals come in.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

But let's talk about sorry, um, let's talk about what happens when you actually find

Earnest Money And The Option Period

SPEAKER_00 20:12

the house you like. You want, you have to put in an offer, right? And then in order to put an offer, yeah. When you to put an offer in, you have to have a pre-approval um from a local lender. That's just state mandated. Or if you're gonna pay cash, you've got to have proof of funds. Um, and then when you put an offer in, you've got to have earnest money. You want to talk about what earnest money in option fee is, because that's not all states have that same thing as Texas does.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

So earnest money is theoretically a down payment, but it's not your down payment of the loan. It's a down payment on the house, saying, I'm committed to this house. And so it's like a holding fee. So typically it's 1% of the sales price, and there's different ways that you can go about that. And Texas are contracts are made where you can actually do it over two payments. It's very common just to do one though. Um, and then option fee and option period are two different are another thing. So once we go under contract, you have the option, or on the contract, you have option to buy into an option period. So that's the due diligence time. That's when you get your inspections, your anything that you have questions about that will determine if you buy the house or not. So during that option period, you have any time to back out.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

During that period.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

Unrestricted right. So during that time, you're doing your inspections, you're maybe even talking to your lender a little bit more. And if you just decide for whatever reason you don't want to buy that house, you have given a small fee to have the right to say, I've decided not to buy this house, and you know, I Get my earnest money back. I do not get my option money back. That is my skin in the game for the seller of taking their house off the market while I do this due diligence period. And that that fee is usually Anthony. What do you usually see? I don't see anything too crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

I would say 250 to 500 typically. Just right.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

That's that's that's what I see.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

And that's it's and it depends what type of market we're in. And like as a buyer's agent, if I'm in multiple offers and my buyer really likes the house, we'll put in a large option fee. Um I've probably the most I've put is $1,500. Right. Yeah. And that's a lot. That's not common.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

It's not common. And and then they should this the buyer decide that they're moving forward with this home, that option fee and earnest money is part of their down payment when it comes to closing.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

They all get credited. So that's the that's an offer process. Yeah. Yep. And so the next step is protecting the gold.

Inspections Repair Credits And Stress Points

SPEAKER_01 23:04

So this is the inspections and appraisals. So after we go under contract, our option period starts immediately after everybody has signed. So it's very important that we start getting inspections lined up. And inspections can be a lot of things. The most common is a general home inspection. And then in our area, septic inspection if it's not on sewer. These are the most common in general inspections. The home inspector will go through the house and his job is to find everything wrong with the house or potential problems. Sometimes they don't know if there's a problem or not, but they can see signs that might lead to a problem. And so then that opens the door to us asking the seller on questions and then to the favorite part of negotiating. So, like I said before, this is where it gets pretty stressful. I think this is the most stressful part of the house hunt. You found your house, you're under contract, and we're almost to the end. This is our last turn to get more money off or whatever or repairs done or whatever. So it's important that Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

It's where you see the the condition of the home, right? Is there something there that is a deal breaker for the buyer and the seller isn't willing to address it? Or even if the seller is willing to address it, it could still be a deal breaker for the buyer.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

And this is typically when most deals fall apart if they're going to fall apart, is during the inspection period. Um and it's buyer and seller are not seeing eye to eye, or there's a big problem with the house that the buyer does not want to deal with.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Is not willing to take on. Exactly. I have had the experience of just personally being in an option period on a historic home where we found that there was no operable plumbing at all in the home. That should have been disclosed, but the clay line to the sewer. And then also all the wiring in the house is knob and tube. So again, that's something that it had fallen out of contract at option period, I think three times before I got there. And um, we fell out of option again, not because the work didn't scare me off, it was because the seller would not adjust their sales price to accommodate for really making the house habitable. Um you almost can't even get a loan on a house when it's in that condition. So yeah, so that the option period, I would agree, is definitely the inspections. It can be really smooth sailing, everything looks great, or it can be a little stressful. And usually I advise my back my buyers and my sellers, whoever I'm representing on that end, instead of getting repairs, let's just ask for some funds because sellers, they're they're already getting out of the house, they're done, they want to do it as cheaply as possible. And the, you know, the buyer wants to pick who does the work for them and make sure it's done well. So it's always easier and it's kind of easier on the lending process because we don't have to go back and check work and look at receipts. So it's a smoother way to handle when we need to get some money.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

One little tidbit that doesn't matter to home buyers, but they recently, a couple maybe four years ago or so, made it where the option period ends at 5 p.m. central like our time, which is amazing because used to it would be until 11:59. And I'm sure Barbara had these times when you're up at 11 o'clock at night writing up an amendment, sending it off, and hoping that they sign.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

So yeah, yeah, exactly. Or getting a termination at 11:59 p.m. So fun talking.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Those days are over.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Okay, our next set on the path is closing day.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Yay, this is the best part.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

And I'm reading it. Okay. The collecting the pot of gold, which is the house, or capturing the leprechaun and you know, like hoarding him in your house. But closing day is the most important thing. How many do you have? I have quite a few. Right. So closing. So closing day, all you do on closing day is um you've been, you've gotten your appraisal. Um, that's another part of the process of protecting the gold. Um I left

Appraisals And What Happens Low

SPEAKER_00 27:29

that part out. That's okay. All houses go through an appraisal process. The buyer typically pays for the appraisal. They're not outrageously expensive. Um, and that's where the bank just makes sure that before they loan you the money, that the home is in line with what the comparable market is. And when there is a discrepancy there, um, we look at the appraisal report and we make sure that there are no flaws in the appraisal report, that the appraiser is actually assessing apples to apples and giving the correct, you know, values to things, although they don't like us to use that word values when we talk about that stuff. Um and if there's any corrections we can make to help the value one way or the other. And if we can't come to an agreement, the buyer has to bring money to uh make up for the difference that the bank won't loan. If the buyer doesn't want to do that and the seller doesn't want to come down, at that point the buyer is able to walk away from the contract and retain their earnest money. You still don't retain your option fee, but you get your earnest money and you go about your merry way. And we do see this happen from time to time, but usually buyer and seller figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Yeah. And typically if you have the problem once, you're gonna have it with another buyer.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

So it can be. It certainly can be. There's all kinds of different scenarios. It is a value of opinion, so that is subjective. And there's a lot that can be said about appraisals and and you know, we have two parties that agree. We have a buyer, we have a seller, and then we have an appraiser who comes in with their own opinion that can sometimes really mess up the deal for both buyer and seller. So it's a it's definitely another hot topic in real estate that we could have a whole podcast on in itself.

unknown 29:16

Right?

SPEAKER_02 29:16

A whole movie.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Yeah, so so closing day.

Closing Day Funding And Move-In Timing

SPEAKER_00 29:20

We assume we've made it through all these hurdles. I call it the real estate gauntlet. And it and our job is to make this process as smooth as possible for our sellers and our buyers. And so we're there, you know, really we are earning our compensation for our clients as soon as we go under contract. That's when we are working all these moving parts and working with the other agent to make sure that, you know, we are negotiating fairly. We're representing each party fairly, and we are trying to bring everybody to the closing table as stress-free as possible without um getting our egos involved and getting in the way of the deal. We are representing sellers and buyers who have agreed on something. And our job is to represent those parties in a fair and kind manner. And so we're doing a lot of things behind the scenes to protect our clients and to protect the negotiations and just the the relationships, right? And so when we finally get there, we get to close. And closing is at title companies and usually at title companies.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Um and it's a happy time. It's when we take our pictures and celebrate your new home. Um now there's a misconception about people thinking that when you close, you get to move in. That's not the case typically. They still need to have funds from the title company has to be in possession of funds from the lender or from the buyer before they really will release what's called funding. Which is when you actually get the house or upset.

SPEAKER_00 30:56

Yes, closed and fund funded. And uh that usually takes um a couple hours.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Less than yeah, less than a day.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

A couple hours. Um if you're new construction, sometimes they call table funding.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

As soon as you sign, you feel do table funding.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Yeah, you can do table funding. So yeah, and then it then it's move-in day, which is really exciting. And um, yeah, you take the cheesy picture at the title company, which I don't do because it's people.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

I'm making my clients, but I'm not getting into it.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

And so really that's the whole process from start to finish.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

There's one more thing.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

But there is one more thing that we need to talk about before we wrap it up.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

Protecting the gold. So the gold is the house, or what else do we call it?

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Well, the leprechaun. Yeah. But it's not.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

Oh, it's not protecting.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Oh no, no, it is, but it's this is what happens when we try to do a script, okay? Like, oh, let's do a theme. And then we're like, well, we can't remember it.

Why Homeownership Builds Wealth

SPEAKER_00 32:04

Um no, the last thing we're gonna say is why the closing isn't the finish line. Because it is the beginning. It's the which it's the beginning of wealth. And owning a home is the beginning of building your own personal wealth. Um and you know, you get tax breaks, you your credit, all this good stuff. But also, if you I have a lot of clients who are first-time home buyers, and then when they move to their next home, they rent out their first home, and now that becomes mailbox money for them, where the rent is covering the mortgage and then some, and they're starting to build build, you know, their real estate portfolio and generational wealth. And so this is the start of it.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Yeah. And my parents are looking at a new home and their current home, their that's their plan is to rent out their home. Rent it out. And then with mine, I've been in it about 10 years and it's already appreciated over a hundred percent. So it's worth double what I paid for it. Um, leaves me in a good position if I want to rent it out or if I want to sell it and move that money into another another property.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Another property. Absolutely.

Final Laughs And Listener Callouts

SPEAKER_00 33:14

Well, that is it for our St. Patty's Day home buying process. And Anthony will be on a bicycle somewhere downtown. So if you see him, just throw like a tomato at him. Just chat, let's challenge his balance on that while he's he's intoxicated. I'm gonna think it should be our bad. And I'll be out wandering around some fields looking at some old churches. Until next time, thank you for joining us. I'm Barbara Giulio, and we are the house next door.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Thank you for tuning in.

SPEAKER_00 33:58

We'll see you next week. Yes, so please like, subscribe, subscribe, comment, share, follow, whatever it might be. Until next time.