Advice for Home Buyers to Help Assemble a Expert Real Estate Team for a Better Buying Experience

Need advice for assembling your real estate team to help ensure a successful home purchase? Our home buyer guide includes tips to help you choose the right real estate professionals and other service providers to help you buy a new home in North Carolina or any other location. Remember, taking the time to assemble the right real estate team is important when you are making one of life’s biggest purchasing decisions that will affect you and your family for years to come.

Real Estate Agent

Adding the right real estate agent to your team will make a world of difference in your home-buying experience. Seasoned and successful agents will not only help buyers navigate the home-buying process, they will also help individuals and families find and buy the perfect home at the perfect price.

How can you find the right North Carolina real estate agent for your team? Ask others for referrals, conduct online research and meet with agents in person before signing any paperwork. For additional advice, follow the steps outlined in our article discussing how to find the right real estate agent to help you buy a home.

Mortgage Lender

Some buyers interview and choose a lender for their home purchase and get a mortgage pre-approval before choosing a real estate agent. Whether you go that route or use another strategy, remember that choosing a mortgage lender is an important decision that should no be rushed. The big question then becomes: how can you make this decision?

For starters, buyers should take the time to weigh all of their options when deciding whether to work with a mortgage broker or a direct lender. Home buyers will also want to review all mortgage loan and interest rate options that are available to them. Use the tips in our Buyer’s Guide article that thoroughly discusses how to choose a mortgage lender for your home loan to help you make the best decision.

Home Inspector

When buying a home in North Carolina or any other state, home buyers will want to get a professional home inspection before closing on the home. While your real estate agent will most likely have a list of home inspectors for you to choose from, the home buyer should take the time (but be mindful of the inspection contingency timeline) to interview multiple home inspectors before making a choice.

What should you look for when hiring a professional home inspector? HUD offers buyers helpful advice for what to ask inspectors during interviews. Consumers can also find more important information on North Carolina licensed home inspectors here.

Insurance Agent

Buyers must purchase homeowners insurance before the lender will finalize your mortgage and close on your new home. Insurance not only protects the homeowner, it also protects the lender because the home you are buying serves as collateral on the loan. That being said, an insurance agent is another individual that buyers will need on their real estate team.

Much like choosing a real estate agent, home buyers should ask for referrals from friends, family, and coworkers when deciding on the right insurance agent. You can then further narrow down these choices by performing some online research. Take a look at professional websites, social media profiles, review websites and any other information you can find. Finally, meet with a few agents in person and ask for homeowners insurance quotes before making your choice.

Real Estate Attorney

Who will represent and your best interests at the closing table when you buy a new home in North Carolina? Your real estate agent will be by your side to help you navigate the closing process. When it comes to legal questions which may arise, however, you will want a trusted real estate attorney on your side. A reputable North Carolina real estate attorney will be able to perform a range of services for home buyers.

While real estate closings and who is responsible for certain tasks leading up to the closing differ from state to state, in North Carolina, real estate attorneys do quite a bit of the work. Some of these tasks include reviewing the sales contract, performing a title search, checking for past due taxes and liens, preparing a Settlement Statement, recording the Deed and Mortgage, and much more. Asking your real estate agent or friends and family for referrals is a good place to start when choosing an attorney for your real estate team.

Other Real Estate Team Members

There are other professionals you will likely come in contact with during the real estate transaction. The lender will have an appraiser perform an appraisal of the home before finalizing your loan. While the buyer pays for this appraisal, it is usually the buyer’s mortgage lender who hires the appraiser.

Other professionals on your real estate team could include a pest/termite inspector, surveyor, and contractor(s). Why would you need a contractor? The buyer may need repair estimates for items that are discovered during the home inspection. These estimates can be used when negotiating final terms with the seller.

Looking for a North Carolina real estate company to be a part of your real estate team? Contact Red Door Company, and we’ll be glad to share how our modern solutions and proven strategies deliver better results for buyers looking to buy a home in Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill.