Buying a Home in 3 MONTHS? Here’s Your Game Plan

If you're thinking about buying a home or maybe you're ready to buy a home, but you don't know where to start and you're feeling anxious, then this video is for you. I'm gonna break down a step-by-step guide on how to prepare, go through the steps, and how to successfully buy a home in as little as the next 90 days. My name is Sam Sharp. I've been a mortgage lender for over 22 years. I've helped over 10,000 people buy a home. I created this channel to help provide real information to people to help educate them on what they need to do to successfully buy a home or finance that home. So I appreciate you tuning in. Let's get into the video. Let's get started by breaking down the home buying timeline. Why three months and how you're gonna use this time wisely. Now, I always tell people that you can never be too proactive when it comes to preparing for your financing. There are things that we can do now that can only put you in a better position. Think of it like research and development. So getting started sooner than later is always the best plan. On average, most people will look at this over a three-month timeline. So why three months? What makes up that timeframe? Well, there's basically three things that are going on during that time. Planning, shopping, should be the fun part, and then closing. All right, so before we go down this rabbit hole and get deeper into this, let's start with a quick explanation. Planning, so this is setting up your financial ability, talking to a professional like myself and going through and getting a better understanding of what you can do and how to get where you wanna be when it comes to the costs. As far as shopping goes, I mean, this is the fun part. You're looking for a place to live, right? Or an investment, something that gets you excited. You wanna make sure that you go through, you're connecting and looking at properties that are meeting your needs. And the third part is closing. This is where everything comes together, right? And arguably one of the most important parts because you can prepare and you can shop, but it doesn't mean anything until you actually close and take possession. All right, so let's go step-by-step then. What goes into the planning phase? So the first step is to go through and align and talk to a lending professional. You wanna connect with someone who can help you set up for the process and have a better understanding of what your financial abilities are. When you're talking to someone and you wanna find out about the pre-approval process, there's two things that go into this. There's gonna be creating your budget and then actually going through and getting approved. I always recommend that you start with the pre-approval process because a professional can help you understand your budget, give you the information that you need so you have an idea of how to prepare those numbers in the first place. Now, I will say though, on the other side of this, when it comes to budgeting, there's some simple questions you wanna ask yourself. Look at the obvious. If you're paying rent right now, how much are you paying in rent? How much are you gonna be comfortable paying on a mortgage every month? You wanna go through and consider your expenses and what you're gonna be comfortable spending upfront. At the very least, have that prepared when you talk to a lender. Now, fast forward, when you're talking with a lender, you have this information available so they can go through and help you have a better understanding on how to reach those goals. Hey, if you're enjoying this video so far, I've actually put together a step-by-step guide that covers all this that I can send to you for free. Click the link below and we'll send you a copy. Now, let's get back to the video. Now, everything we're covering here, you could do yourself. You can go online, you can find those resources, but for the purpose of this video and what I highly recommend, coming from someone who's worked with over 10,000 clients and helped them buy homes, you wanna be in a position where you start talking with financial professionals so you can get the facts straight, get the right information. They're gonna help you go through and create both a budget as well as the pre-approval. These two things, although they're related, are going to be different. Now, a lender can help you understand what that means as far as the price range on properties and going through and having a better understanding of what that means from an actual approval standpoint. And that's where the pre-approval comes in, right? A pre-approval is basically your proof of funds. When I meet with clients and we talk, we start with the budget. We start talking through what they're looking at. And ideally, as much as I'd love a world that we live in where people don't go shopping online, it seems to happen every time. So I'll start with simple questions like, have you considered a price range for properties? And then we'll work backwards from there so that way we have a better understanding of, does that price range match what your monthly payment will look like? Going through from there for the pre-approval, it's a better understanding then of, okay, so this is in line, but now how do you get there? Is your income in line from a qualifying perspective? A pre-approval is your proof of funds. This is going to be your ability to show a seller you can give them the money when the time comes. But more than that, it's going to be an instrument or a tool that you can use to make sure that what you're looking at is right in line with the budget that you need. Now, why is it so important to get pre-approved early on? As I said, you can never be too proactive. Keep in mind that there are things that you can do that will allow for better financing terms, and the pre-approval can help you with this. Your loan approval is going to be based off your credit, your income, your down payment. These factors not only impact what you can get approved for, but the type of loan that you can get. And there's things that you can do by being proactive that can put you in a better place for all of these aspects. It'll make sure that your credit's in line, your income's in line, and that the setup is going to allow for a better loan. And what does a better loan mean? It means cheaper money, and that's what we're looking for, right? We want to make sure that you have the best loan for your needs that allows for a more affordable outlet. And on top of that, you're not buying a home without a pre-approval. If you plan on using a loan, you're not going to even be able to make an offer, and in some cases, not even see the property. So you know this is a process that you have to go through, and you want to be prepared for that. There are things that you can do with the pre-approval that will actually allow you to be more competitive in the marketplace. Because when you find a property, you don't want to miss out on that opportunity because you weren't prepared. I joke with my clients, and I say, listen, be careful what you look for because you might find it. This is really common when someone tells me, oh, I'm not ready to get pre-approved yet, but I just want to look around. Well, looking is the first step to buying. If you're looking around, you find the perfect place, the next thing you know, you're scrambling to try and get everything in order so that you can qualify, only to find out that maybe you can't buy that home. Or worse, maybe you can buy the home, but the time that it took you to get to that position, that home's already sold. So when you're looking at those loan terms, of course we want to make sure we can get the best interest rate possible. Keep in mind, your credit score is so important. So being prepared, you may have great credit. Maybe you have a 740 credit score, and you say, oh, I have excellent credit. Well, there could be better terms available with a 780. Talking to a mortgage professional is going to have a better understanding of what your credit looks like and how to make those suggestions. You may have great credit, but if we can make that credit excellent, it could be the difference on a better interest rate and better terms. So keep in mind, being prepared and talking to a financial professional like myself and my team, this is going to put you in a place where now you will have your money right. You're going to have your credit right. You're going to have everything in line so that you can purchase a home that fits your needs and also works exactly within what you can actually do. All right, and speaking of needs, great transition here. You're going to want to make sure that you have a very clear understanding of what your wants and needs are when you're looking for a house. Keep in mind, the difference between needs and wants, needs, maybe you need a certain amount of bedrooms. Maybe you need to be in a certain school district or your job could require that you live in a certain city. Those are needs. Those are non-negotiables. You have to have these items. Wants, well, that's going to be that additional sunroom or the pool or the dream landscaping, whatever it is that you want to have. And it's important to be able to have a clear understanding about what you need versus you want because as you go through this process, you'll find that you're going to have to start by making some compromises. What do I mean by making compromises? Well, maybe you'll find a property that has so many of the things that you want, but it's not meeting your needs. That's going to be a problem because that just means later down the road, you're going to need to move again. On the flip side, if you find a home that's checking the boxes, it meets your needs and has some of the things that you want, that's going to be a good combination of making that compromise and making sure that you have a place where you're going to be comfortable, where you'll be comfortable living for the long term. All right, so now you have your finances in order, you know what you're looking for, you know where you want to go and what you're looking to do as far as where you want to move. Let's talk about how are you going to exit where you're living currently. So I want to start by talking to renters. If you're in a position where you're renting your property, this means that you have a lease agreement, you have a landlord, you have moving pieces that you're looking to make sure everyone's on the same page. There are options. Keep in mind that if you're currently renting your property, and let's say you found your dream home, everything's in line and you need to make a move, but your lease is not up. Well, now what? What can you do? A few different options here. First, you could consider just talking with your landlord to see if they'll allow you to break that lease. Depending on the time of year, I'm a landlord myself, I have rental properties. If someone comes to me and it's an ideal time for rentals in that market and I can get the place rented out, I'm willing to work with my tenants and say, you know what, I'll take a look and see if we can find someone to move in in your place. On the flip side, maybe that doesn't work. Maybe they're not reasonable. So in this case, you have the option to sublease your property. Can you go out and can you find someone else who can take over the remainder of your lease? Is that even allowed? So you wanna do the research to find out if that's something that you can look for. Otherwise, if you're in a lease, can't get out of the lease, you can't go through and you can't sublease, see if there's an alternative and a compromise to buying your way out of that lease. It's not the best option, but at the same time, it's still a plan. You may be able to pay a certain amount of money until you can go through and find someone to live in that property. So that way your landlord's happy and you're able to make the next move. Regardless of what your options are, you need to have an understanding of what you can do and how you can get out when the time comes. All right, so the last part of the planning process, you've gotta assemble your team. You wanna make sure that you're working with the right professionals. This can make or break it for you. This could be the determining factor on the deal that you get on the property, even being able to get considered to buy that property in the first place. Keep in mind, your lender, well, that's your proof of money. If the seller doesn't feel confident in your lender, they're not gonna feel confident in your money. Your real estate agent, probably one of the most important parts of this process. Well, they're the ones who are negotiating for you. They're the ones who are helping you find that home and then making sure that you're not overpaying for that property and making sure that you're taking the right approach. Now, I don't know why it's this way, but it is this way. People always seem to fall in line with connecting with the realtor first. Maybe they know someone or they're always going out there and their family knows someone and they're talking and they say, hey, my uncles, grandmas, cousins worked with this agent, you should talk to them. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It's always good to work with people that you know and trust. But I'd like to offer you an alternative. Talk to your lender first, right? Before you talk to an agent, you wanna make sure you know exactly what your options are. You don't wanna talk to an agent and say, I wanna buy a million dollar home to find out that you need a $200,000 home. So just do yourself that favor upfront by planning and being prepared. All right, so let's just say you've ignored everything that you've heard up to this point. Maybe you're not even watching the video anymore or maybe you're just tuning in now. If you're out and you haven't talked to a lender and you haven't gotten your money in order, but you're going and searching for a real estate agent, here are three things I would recommend when I'm considering the quality of a real estate agent. One, shop local. You wanna make sure that if you're looking for a specific area, you're working with an agent who's worked in that area before. They're gonna make sure that you're paying the right price for the property. They're gonna know the history of the neighborhood. They're gonna know why you don't wanna buy in this part of town versus this part of town and how to make sure that you're meeting those needs that you were looking for. Number two, experience. Right in line with making sure you're shopping local, just because someone's in that area doesn't mean that they've actually done enough business in that area. So make sure that if you're talking to an agent, and it's okay if they're a newer agent, that's not a problem, but are they a part of a team? Who's working alongside of them? What resources do they have available? So experience matters. Working with a professional who actually has seen what you're looking for is gonna put you ahead of the game. Number three probably seems like the most obvious, but you're gonna be spending a lot of time with this individual. You wanna make sure that you actually like the people you're working with. Maybe you meet someone who has experience, they're super local, but every time the phone rings and you see their calling, you don't wanna talk to them or you're dreading that conversation. Again, you're gonna be riding around in a car with them or meeting them places, and you're trusting them with all of your needs, everything you're looking at for a home. So make sure you connect with someone who you actually like. It's probably one of the most important parts of the process. All right, hey, sorry for interrupting again, but if you like this information, you wanna be kept up to date to the changes that are happening in different ways that we can approach the process, I have a great newsletter that I've put together that will give you just that information. We send this out every two weeks. It's free, and I'm not gonna spam you or anything. This is just to provide real information with financial tips, real estate, what's going on in the world of real estate and ways that you can successfully get through that process. So click the link below and we'll sign you up. Let's get back to the video. All right, you've got your money in order. You've got your team together. You're ready to get out there and find the place. So now for the fun part, right? Shopping. This is the home shopping process. You're going out, you're looking at homes, and you're trying to find that perfect place. Keep in mind, this could take up to 80 days of that three-month period. All right, so you're out shopping. How do you make the most of that time? How do you find the perfect place and work in line with your team that you have assembled, right? It's time to hit the market. Well, I think that communication is key for every transaction. So you wanna make sure you have a clear understanding of how does your agent like to communicate? When are they available? When are you available? Make sure that you have an idea of the timeline and how you're gonna set this up. Are you gonna go, do you wanna go see 17 properties on a Saturday? I really hope that's not how you set this up, but at the same time, make sure that you have a clear understanding of how does your agent like to handle their business and what's gonna work best so you can see the properties when they become available. Next in line, as you're out there and you're shopping for properties, you've covered your wants, you've covered your needs list, you've covered your area and now you're actually covering the area, right? You're getting out there and looking at properties. I can't stress this enough. You have to know exactly what you're getting into before you set foot in that property. And what I mean by this is that when you see that property, it meets all your needs, maybe it meets all your wants and this place is perfect. You're probably not the only one who thinks that. It's a highly competitive market. You wanna be in a place where you can now say, okay, I've looked at the property, it meets my wants, it meets my needs, I'm ready to move. Because you're gonna need to submit an offer very quickly. So just make sure that up to this point, when you're shopping, you're comfortable on the other steps and you're in a place where you know exactly how you're gonna take those next steps for that property. All right, I know this seems like a lot. You know, right now your head is spinning, you're probably thinking like, wow, we're not even halfway through this and we're already in a position where I just, this is too much to do. The good news is that your team is going to do a lot of heavy lifting. Remember, they're the professionals, they have the experience, so they're gonna walk you through step by step. Your real estate agent is going to be setting up property searches for you so you know what's available. They're also going to update and let you know what's coming to market, let you know what properties are coming. Now with that being said, yes, the heavy lifting is being done, but there's a lot that you can do to get through this successfully and to do your part. You wanna make sure you're looking in the neighborhoods, look at open houses, and keep your team informed, right? If you're going out looking, let your agent know, but go out, walk the area, get to know the neighborhood. Make sure that you're in a position where when you feel like, yeah, this is where I wanna live, take a day in the life, right? Where did you eat? Where did you have lunch? What does it look like to take your kids to school? So become familiar with the areas that you're looking in and become familiar with the properties that are on the market. All right, so you've shopped for a house, you found the perfect place, your money's right, all the numbers look good. Now it's time to make an offer. All right, so what goes into making an offer? You're gonna meet with your team, you're gonna talk to your lender, make sure that you know the terms. You're then gonna talk with your agent and you're gonna talk through what you're willing to pay for this property, right? What's the price? What's the timeline? When do you wanna close on that property and take possession? And then talk with the agent about their negotiation strategy. In some cases, we'll say, hey, we're gonna buy this property and we're gonna close very quickly because, well, that might make your offer more aggressive. The seller might like that. Sellers will say, hey, I can have my money in 10 days or I can have it in 30. But talk to your agent about that strategy. So you're gonna talk with your agent and have that strategy put in place so that you can submit an offer that has the best chance of getting accepted while still meeting the price that you wanna pay. And keep in mind, this is not a straight line. It's not like you're gonna tell someone, I'll give you this amount and I want the property then and they're just gonna respond and say, yes, thank you. That's not exactly how this works. There's gonna be back and forth, right? The negotiations. Good news, you've got a professional on that. And this is where it becomes very important on knowing your wants and needs. When that ping pong starts happening, you're bouncing back and forth on what you wanna pay for the property. You need to know where you're willing to draw the line. It's very easy to get emotional in this. So make sure you've had that conversation up till now with your agent. You know what your stopping point is and then go through and talk with them so they can handle those negotiations on your behalf. Once your offer is accepted, now what? Besides anxiety, right? No matter how many properties I buy, I still feel that little twinge when I sign the bottom line. Well, the good news, because you've watched this video and you've taken all of my advice, you're prepared. You've done everything up front to make sure that this process doesn't have to be overwhelming. Now, once you've made your offer and you've agreed on terms with the sellers, this is what's referred to as going under contract. Going under contract is setting up all the agreements on the price you're gonna pay, when you're gonna take possession of the property, and all the terms and agreements that you've made with that seller that's going to take you from wanting that property to owning that property. Which then leads us to the final step, which is closing on the property. So let's break it down and talk about how do you get to that closing? What goes on after going under contract to the point of successfully closing on the property? Because there's some moving pieces. Just because you've agreed on the terms doesn't mean that you don't want to do your research, do your homework, make sure that everything's in line and that you don't end up with a problem down the road. So there are moving pieces. One of the biggest parts of this is going to be getting a home inspection. The home inspection is going to tell you if there are any immediate repairs that need to be made with this property or any concerns that you could be surprised with later down. So do yourself a favor and don't skip the home inspection. Outside of that, of course, you're borrowing money, right? You're using a mortgage. Now, I know if you're working with me and my team, this is the easiest part, because something that we do is we set our clients up from the beginning with a loan approval. This means that before you even set foot in a property, you already have your loan in place. We know that this next step is going to be very easy. We just have to have usually an appraisal on the home, get the title from the seller and some of the other documents from third parties, like a condo association if you're buying a condo, but that part's already in line. Now, if you're not working with me and my team and you're working with another lender, then this part can be a little bit more in-depth and this can be where the lender's going to ask you for some of the documents they need to finalize everything on the loan. Hopefully that's not the case because there's so many moving pieces, but if that is, just make sure you're open and communicating with your lender and get them everything they need as quickly as possible. I tell my clients, this can be as easy or as hard as you want it to be. You know, this is not a negotiation when your lender is asking for documents. Instead, it's just an agreement that this is what they need in order to give you the money. Simply put, when the lender asks you for pay stubs or bank statements, give them what they want. So that way you don't have to be anxious and this doesn't have to be a difficult process. Now I'll give you a bonus tip. If you feel like your lender's repeating themselves and they keep asking you for the same documents, well, there may be a communication issue here. Maybe what they're asking you for and what they really need isn't lining up. So don't be afraid to speak up. Raise your hand and say, hey, I think I've already given that to you. So that way you're getting the opportunity to open that communication to make this easier for both of you. Now, after the inspection, this is your opportunity to possibly negotiate terms and credits. You know, maybe there's something that you found that is an issue and you can get a credit for that repair, something that you weren't considering originally. So you wanna use this as your time to renegotiate the terms if everything's not exactly to your liking. Also moving forward, now you're gonna need to get an appraisal on the property, right? Your lender will wanna make sure that that property is going to be sufficient value for the money they're lending you. A big mistake I think people make when they're getting an appraisal is they feel like this is telling them the true value of the property. I gotta tell you right now, when lenders order an appraisal, this is for the lender. The appraiser has a copy of the sales contract and they know the mark that they're looking at. The reason this is set up this way is because the lender wants to make sure that that property is sufficient collateral. Again, that value has to be there. They're concerned about the risk factor from a lending perspective. So going through an appraisal is key for several reasons. One, if it doesn't hit the mark, you may not be able to get the loan that you applied for. Two, this could be a good indication on whether or not you need to renegotiate with the seller. When we have appraisals come back, if they don't hit the value, we're immediately going to look to see what factors went into this. So basically, what other properties were considered? The number one value that traditional lenders will use is the comparison value on an appraisal. We'll say, okay, well, you're buying this property and in this small radius, within a quarter mile of this radius, we want to make sure that everyone else who bought a similar property, well, they paid either a similar price and if not, why? Or why did they pay more? So this can help you have a better understanding of what that actual value is of that property. So it's important to the lender and it's important to you. Now, something to be mindful of after you go under contract, and this is going to be different depending on what state you're in. You may have some other players involved. For example, in Illinois, we use an attorney. So an attorney is going to be working on your behalf or your legal representative. The seller has an attorney, get an attorney, you need a lawyer up. So when you're working with that attorney, they're going to handle a lot of the negotiations after contract. They're going to also handle the scheduling of your closing and making sure that you have everything in line for that final day. You're also going to be working with an insurance agent, right? You need to have the home insured. Your lender requires this. If you're in Florida or California, I'm so sorry because I know those insurance costs have gone through the roof and this can be very difficult. But going through and looking at this, you want to make sure that you have those pieces in place because they're necessary for the closing. You can't close without the insurance. If you're an attorney state, you want to have that attorney there setting up that closing for you. So now on that big day, the day of closing, the day you've been waiting for, right? Stretched out, you're going to be signing a lot of paperwork. But once you've signed the papers, you've agreed on the terms, everything's in line. Well, now you're going to take possession of the property. You take the keys and you've got to look to move in. Keep in mind, after you own this property, you now have some responsibilities, right? And this will be communicated through your lender and the parties that are involved. But this is where you'll find out exactly who do I make my mortgage payment to? Are there ways that you can do that more beneficial? And hopefully you're working with a lender who's coached you on that upfront. Also, you want to consider then if you're buying a condo, let's say you're buying in an association. Well, fun fact, when you buy a property, you're generally going to skip the next month. You won't start making your mortgage payment for another 30 days after closing, the remainder of the month and then the month after. So more than 30 days in some cases. But if you're buying a condo, you start paying that association right away. So at the closing, you're going to have all of these details and instructions so you know exactly how to take possession of that property and to make sure that you're starting off on the right foot. All right, so this gives you a breakdown of a lot of moving pieces that you would cover over this three-month period. And don't be worried if it takes you longer than three months. It may take a year. I have some clients, it can take two years. But this will give you the basic parts and those moving parts and how to try and work through those parts and have a better understanding of what to prepare for. And I think the key word there is prepare. Again, you want to make sure that you're doing everything upfront, like watching this video, right? Making sure that you're in a place where you're doing your research so that when you go through this process, it doesn't have to be a bad experience. It actually should be a very positive experience. You should have worked with a team that's made you feel good, found a place where you love, where you want to live. I think a lot of times we get caught up in the financial aspect without remembering, this is the American dream, right? We're buying our dream home. So don't get far away from that. Make sure that going through this, this can be a positive process that ends with a place where you love, where you want to live. And by doing the right work upfront, you can make sure that that's your experience as well. If you've made it to the end of this video, first, thank you so much. You're now better prepared and you have a better understanding of what you need to do to successfully buy a home, even within the next 90 days. If you or anyone you know is thinking about buying a home and you'd like more information, click the link below. Let's set up a free call. We'll talk about the strategy, the approach, we'll make sure that you have everything you need so that way you can make the next move. Other than that, I'll see you in the next video.