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Buying Process

    Most Clear Lake Realtors work as your buyer’s agent and the seller pays the fees. Many use a buyer’s representation agreement that should state that the agent is representing the buyer as their client usually at no charge.

    Keep it simple. Give your Realtor a description of what you are looking for and the specific areas of Clear Lake you want to buy a home in. Your Realtor should be able to keep you updated with information for homes coming on the market no matter what Clear Lake Realty office has the listing.

    From this information, you should have your Realtor schedule appointments to show properties that you like the best. Your Realtor should be knowledgeable enough to advise you on making an offer on the home you like best, based on recent properties that have sold in that particular Clear Lake area neighborhood. When you are ready to make an offer, your realtor's data that is stored on the Houston Association of Realtors data base of sold properties and his or her experience, interpreting that data, is critical to help you decide on what to offer a seller. You want to get the home for the best price but you don't want to offer a price so low that the seller becomes offended.

    Choosing a skilled loan officer who has a good track record helping past clients get into homes is also very important. This should be done before you start looking at properties and you should have in hand a pre-qualification letter before you go house hunting. When you make an offer on a home, the seller of that home is almost certainly going to want to see proof  that shows you can afford to purchase it.

    Negotiations with the seller are usually completed within two or three days and for best results require that an agent be very skilled in dealing with human nature. No two transactions are ever the same. The Houston economy is diverse and strong so prices on home have not dropped as they have in other areas of the country. 

    The offer becomes a contract when everything is agreed upon, by you and the seller. This agreement will include a period of time for you to get inspections on the property and also back out of the deal for any reason. This is called the option period. If the inspection reveals something wrong with the property that you would like fixed, have your Clear Lake Realtor go back to the seller and ask them to fix these items. The seller knows that you can back out, so he or she is more likely at this time to work with you on repairing any major repair items.

     Once your Realtor gets the seller to agree in writing to any repairs you wish to have done, the transaction moves forward and an appraisal is done on the property by the mortgage company, to establish proof to the mortgage company that the home is worth at least what you are borrowing. As a rule of thumb appraisers working in the Clear Lake area are very conservative with this type of appraisal which means this type of appraisal is not necessarily a good indication of the market value of the home.  

     A survey is also required to make sure the property has no encroachments, as well as a title search, which will reveal any liens filed against the property. A title company heavily regulated by the State of Texas will issue a title insurance policy for you, which is customarily paid by the seller on resale homes. New home builders in the Clear Lake area many times require the buyer to pay for their own title policy.

    The entire process from start to finish can take as little as two weeks, but on average takes about three to four weeks. After the appraisal is finished, your mortgage company completes their final underwriting process and generates the documents for your closing on the property. Your and your Realtor will need to meet at the property, usually on the morning of your closing before you sign closing documents, to make sure it is in acceptable condition and that all repairs agreed upon by you and the seller have been completed.