Advice for Buying a Home in Santa Fe or Taos

SEEK PRE-APPROVAL FOR YOUR MORTGAGE 

You must know how much you can afford before you begin your Santa Fe home search.  Typical down payments range from 10% to 20% but may vary depending on credit rating and other conditions. Your Kokopelli Realtor can furnish a wide range of lenders, mortgage brokers, or bankers to choose from.  Shop around as there are a wide range of mortgage plans and rates available.  Most sellers will look more favorably on a buyer who is already pre-approved for a mortgage.

LEARN ABOUT THE AREA
 
Your Kokopelli Realtor can assist you with gathering information on the area you are moving to.  Receiving information on the public and private schools, religious centers, recreational activities, shopping, taxes or other information you might be interested in finding is just a mouse click or phone call away.  Receiving a relocation package with the basic information on the community will assist in familiarizing you with the City Different, its services and amenities.  Before beginning your search online, it is best to visit Santa Fe or Taos, NM and acquaint yourself with the neighborhoods and lifestyles.  Do you want to be in walking distance to the Plaza? Or do you prefer being close to the Community College?  Do you want acreage or a city lot?

CHOOSE THE PERFECT REAL ESTATE BROKER 

Contact Kokopelli to talk to a Realtor.  After an in depth interview you can decide whether you are a good working team.  This will give you an opportunity to decide whether the broker is listening to your needs and wants, is capable of giving you the information you need.  It will also allow the broker to determine how serious and prepared you are to purchase.

Five Reasons to buy your home with a REALTOR®

  1. Get access to all the listings.
  2. Know all the facts on properties you're interested in.
  3. Negotiate with the help of a real estate professional.
  4. Finance your home faster.
  5. Make a solid investment that pays off down the road.
SEARCH FOR YOUR HOME 

Depending on what you are looking for and the state of the real estate market at the time, the length of time of your search can vary.  Being internet-savvy will save time.  Viewing homes over the web to decide what you like will save time when you begin viewing homes with your realestate agent.  The number of homes viewed varies based upon the number of homes available in the marketplace at the time of the search and how well the buyers truly knows what they are looking for.  In situations where the buyers know what they are looking for and the Realtor has listened to those needs, it shouldn’t take viewing more than 5-8 homes to find the perfect one.  Often times it is the first home seen that is perfect.  Psychologically, a savvy buyer will be prepared for this possibility.

NEGOTIATE TO PURCHASE AND SIGN A CONTRACT 

Once the home is located, your trusted real estate advisor will help you decide on the best way to approach an offer.  Many factors will impact this decision, the degree to which the home fits the needs of the buyer, the location, the condition of the property, and whether it is a buyers’ market or a sellers’ market.  A Comparable Market Analysis (CMA) of the chosen property will help guide the offer.  Offers which are close to the listed price of the home will take less time to negotiate than when the offer and listing price are further apaprt.  Having a pre-approval letter from a lender will make your offer to purchase a home more attractive.  Upon acceptance of the final offer, buyer and seller will execute the purchase agreement.

APPLY FOR YOUR MORTGAGE

Once the purchase agreement has been executed by both the buyer and the seller, it is time to apply for your mortgage.  Having a pre-approval letter from your chose lender will shorten this time frame.  Your lender will go through several steps in approving your mortgage, including securing an appraisal for your chosen property.

SCHEDULE A CLOSING

Many factors can effect how soon after signing of the purchase agreement the parties will close.  Those include the availability of funds to complete the transaction, inspection of the property and deficiencies which must be corrected prior to closing, seller’s time frame in vacating the property, and buyer’s need to move.

POSSESSION AND MOVE IN

Keys typically change hands from the seller to the buyer at the time the closing is funded.  This could be affected by funds not immediately available to seller from buyer’s lender, or a prior arrangement made between the parties allowing the seller to remain on the property for a period of time after closing.

Typically it takes 30-60 days from the time the home is selected to the time of the closing and funding.

Related Resources

Consumer Protection Tips from the National Association of Realtors®