BUYING A HOME

Overall Process

Make Plan

• One of the biggest personal investments you will

make is buying your home.

• Being organized and in-control will contribute

significantly to getting the best home deal possible

with the least amount of stress.

• I believe in a simple philosophy:

• an informed buyer is able to make the best

decisions, because he knows his options and the

benefits/costs of his choices

• I have the insight and ability to understand,

anticipate and ease your anxieties and concerns.

• I am here to help you every step of this is a

complex process.

Choose Agent

Why Choose Lisa Heineman?

• I strive for service, not size

• I am an Independent Broker, which means my only boss is my client. I know that the

survival of my business is fully dependent on how I take care of my clients today.

• I know Real Estate, I can help you find what you are looking for. I have been a Grand Island

professional for 10 years, and a Broker for 3 years

• I understand the financial side of Real Estate transactions. I have a Bachelor of Science plus

MBA

vs.

Why Use a REALTOR®?

• I’m a member of the Grand Island Board, State of Nebraska, and

National REALTORS® Association.

• I serve on Statewide committees for Professional Standards, License

Law, Governmental Affairs and Diversity

• REALTORS® subscribe to a code of ethics and are required to have

education in addition to the certification laws of the state.

• Only Real Estate Agents who are members of the National

Association of REALTORS® can use this term.

Professional Time Line

Licensed as

Salesperson in

2003

Licensed as

Broker in 2008

Started

Independent

Brokerage in

2011

20002000 20142014Worked for

DaLy Realty

Century 21

Joined Real

Estate Group

in 2009

Testimonials

• “Lisa Heineman was a pleasure to work with when we

listed a home for sale and when purchasing a home. She

has deep knowledge of the real estate business, which is

paramount to helping make informed decisions. Lisa

listened to what we wanted in a home and worked endless

hours to show us the homes that suited our requirements.

Every home acquisition has its occasional hiccups and

Lisa truly made all those ups and downs go smoothly and

guided us through the process with grace and poise. We

would highly recommend Lisa to anyone interested in

soliciting help from a real estate expert!”

Testimonials

• “I have worked with Lisa when purchasing both of my homes in Grand Island. She was a pleasure to deal with. I found her to be very knowledgeable about the housing market and my needs. She answered my questions in a timely manner and was always available via text, email, or phone. I appreciated her forthrightness when it came to the reality of buying and selling a home. Lisa has a good eye during walk-throughs of potential homes. I felt that Lisa had a good working relationship with other Realtors when it came to negotiating and scheduling. I don’t plan to move again, but if I do I will be calling Lisa.”

See more testimonials on

GrandIslandAgent.com &

Zillow.com

• Advantages to getting pre-approved for a mortgage loan.

• Know what you can comfortably afford. Prevent looking at homes out of your range.

– Become a “qualified buyer” which puts you in a stronger negotiating position

– If your offer is accepted, your pre-approval can simplify the closing process.

• Most lenders can give you an estimate of what you can afford for a mortgage over the phone, based on general questions about your income, debt, assets, and credit history. You will need to bring in proof in-person so that they can be prepared to quickly issue a pre-qualification letter when you make an offer.

Pre-Qualify

Describe your Dream Home

Crime RateBank Owned Waterfront

Maintenance Free

Siding

Automatic

Sprinkler

Fenced YardSize of Yard

UtilitiesCentral AirGas or Electric

Furnace

Fireplace

Type

Condition – Fixer

Upper, Turn Key

Apx Age One Level Living -

Main Floor Utilities

Style of House

Size of Garage

Attached Garage

Basement Bathrooms

Master Bath

Bedrooms

School Close to

Medical,Shops,

Businesses

Neighborhood

Preference

City

When Do You

Need To Move?

Price Range

Identify wants,

then circle must

haves

Let Me Search For You!

• I have access to information for virtually every property for sale in

this market, and will complete a thorough market search to identify all

properties consistent with your needs, criteria and price range.

• My search includes:

– Grand Island Board of REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS)

– Other brokerages outside of the area (Primarily Hastings, St Paul, Central

City, Aurora and Kearney) to provide a larger network of information and

service.

– Homes that are for sale by owner, or homes that sellers are thinking about

listing,

– Past withdrawn or expired sales if we are having a difficult time finding a

home consistent with your needs

• Contact me right away if you find a home you are interested in and I

will seek out additional information (sales history, assessment value,

amount owed on mortgage, value of comparable homes, etc) about it.

The MLS Search Tool

• In any market, be it a “buyers” or “sellers”, it is very

important to be able to act promptly.

– Quite frankly, if you think it’s an interesting property

or a ‘good deal’ so do other buyers

• I will make sure you know about a property as soon as it

hits the market. I will set up my MLS system to

automatically email you a list of newly listed properties that

match your search criteria.

• You will also get updates on all price changes and if a

market comes back onto market.

• If you are interested in more in-depth details of the

property, just drop me an email or give me a call.

Tour Homes

• This is an important time to work as a team to achieve the best results for you. Remember, I am here to assist you and guide you throughout the entire home buying process.

• Viewing homes can be a fun, but timely process so it is important to view only homes that meet your needs, and to be mindful of the appointments we set up.

• Much of my time working with you will be in the area of showing you homes, and educating you on the value of the market.

• Every home you tour, every bit of home buying education I share with you hones your ability to make the best informed decision when you buy a home.

• I hope you come to appreciate the professional service that I provide, and will allow me to be the one that writes the offer for you, so I can get reimbursed for my services. I will not get paid for any of the time I assist you in your home buying process, until we successfully find you a home.

Save on Overall Costs

• Most people focus on the purchase price as the most important detail.

• Actually, taxes, insurance, interest rate and mortgage terms can impact your ownership costs more than the purchase price.

• I will help you understand not only how to negotiate for the best price and terms in your purchase agreement, but also

– Cost / benefit of Inspection and warranty options

– How to shop for and compare mortgage, down payment alternatives, and closing costs

– Availability and eligibility for grant and down payment assistance programs

– How to shop for and save money on Home owner’s insurance

More Savings Potential

• I will help you stand back from the beauty of a home and its amenities to recognize the actual value of the property compared to others on the market.

• I will not only help you find a diamond in the rough, and also recognize mere surface beauty, when it distracts you from deferred maintenance problems.

• I will educating you on how to evaluate value based on amenities that have major impact on the long-term cost of ownership, such as:

– Age of roof

– Age of HVAC; efficiency of system

– Age of floor covering

– Age of water heater; efficiency

– Age of siding

– Amount of insulation

– Age of landscaping

Write Offer

• My experience, knowledge and commitment to you will be evident once we write an offer once we find the home that you love.

• I will research what other similar homes have sold for, to assess if offer price is in line with market value.

• I will help you make consider other strategic factorsbesides price, such as

– items of personal property you would like included with the house,

– warranty,

– inspections,

– closing date

• Making informed decisions will help ensure you are getting you the most for your money. I will incorporate your choices into an offer which will enable me to negotiate the best price and terms for you.

Offer Amount

Determining Offer Price

• This is an extremely competitive market, one that is

advantageous to the seller.

• Sometimes, homes will sell as soon as they are listed or

even before homes are listed.

• Multiple offers often are made on each home and more

often than not, homes will sell for more than their

asking price.

• It is even more crucial to be prepared and to be ready as

a buyer when the market is hot.

• It can be easy to get caught up in the bid for a home, but

I will help you stay focused on your needs and budget, and

make financially sound offers.

• I will let you know if I feel a low offer will loose you the

home.

Estimated Costs

• At this time I will calculate your anticipated monthly payments and closing costs based on the terms of your offer

• Expect closing costs to be about 2000

• Plus prepaid items to be one year of insurance plus 2 months taxes, insurance and PMI which will amount to approx 1500 more.

• Down payment 3.5%, 5% or 20%

• The seller’s tax proration may reduce your out of pocket costs at closing because we pay taxes one year in arrears

• You can request the seller to pay your closing costs, but in reality, you are just financing closing costs.

Negotiate Acceptance

• Although my focus is you, ensuring that the seller is

excited about the deal helps ensure smooth negotiations

after inspections, and cooperation through out process

to close.

• I will present your offer to the seller’s listing agent.

The seller will have three choices:

– Accept the offer as it is presented

– Reject it completely

– Propose adjustments to your offer (counter offer)

• If there is a counter offer, you have same options to

respond

• Once we have reached an agreement with the seller,

you will have a firm contract to purchase the home.

Proceed to Close

• Once your offer is accepted by the Seller you

are then “Under Contract", but we still have

much work to do to ensure a successful closing.

• I manage the transaction through closing,

including scheduling of all inspections to reduce

your the stress and worries. You can relax

knowing that I’ve done this before many times. I

will work to resolve any issues and make this

process as clean as possible.

• Many of these steps will have strict deadlines,

and if not completed properly and on time, could

cause forfeiture of your earnest money and loss

of the sale.

Apply for Mortgage

Your lender will need the following information to start processing your loan approval:

• Copy of the Purchase Agreement

• Social Security numbers for all borrowers.

• Your home addresses for at least the past two years.

• Current names, account numbers, and balances of checking, savings, money market, retirement, and credit card accounts.

• Checking and savings account statements for the past three months

• Your most recent pay stubs, W-2s, or other proof of employment and income verification.

• Federal income tax returns for the past two years.

• Evidence of any other income you receive (child support, Social Security, etc).

• Divorce settlement papers if applicable.

• Information on other consumer debts.

• They may need additional information, but this will get you started.

Inspections

• I will schedule the inspections identified on offer to take place during inspection period allowed (as stated on contract, typically within 10 days of acceptance of offer).

• Typical inspections include Termite, Whole House, Radon, Water, Septic, Insurability, Sex Offender Registry, Flood Zone (bank generally requests the flood certification)

• We will have 3 days (or as specified by contract) to review inspection reports and ask seller for repairs, once inspections are complete,

• The seller and buyer then have 5 days to negotiate how these issues will be resolved.

• If issues are resolved satisfactorily to buyer, we remove inspection contingency and proceed to close.

• If not, buyer retains right to withdraw offer, and have earnest money returned (after all bills for services hired for buyer arepaid)

Appraisal

• The bank will contact an appraisal service to appraise the value of the property.

• We cannot contact the appraiser or influence them in any way

• An appraiser will often identify repairs that need to be made as a condition of obtaining the loan. The appraiser will reinspect property to verify repairs are complete prior to closing

• If a property does not appraise for contract amount, we will negotiate with seller to find solution.

• If we are unable to resolve, the buyer can withdraw offer, and earnest money will be returned after all buyer incurred expenses are paid.

4 Weeks Before You Move

• Keep in contact with lender to ensure that they have all documentation they need to

submit your loan to underwriting.

• Finalize plans with a reputable moving company (unless other arrangements have

been made, you will move out of your current home and into your new home on the day

of closing.)

• Prepare to have records transferred if moving out of area (medical, dental, school)

• Obtain binder for insurance on your new home – give information to your insurance

agent regarding day of closing and your lender’s contact information.

• Consider a garage sale to get rid of unneeded items

• Arrange to place excess items in storage if necessary

• Keep track of moving related expenses. Consult your accountant to find out what

expenses may be deductible.

3 Weeks Before

� Obtain and mail change-of-address cards to the post office, subscriptions, credit card

companies, mail order prescriptions and other important contacts

2 weeks before:

Move estimated cash required to close into account from which you plan on drawing

cashier’s check on day of closing.

� Arrange for utility connection changes – the utilities must be read on the day of closing

– you must make the call, I am not authorized to do so

� Close or transfer bank accounts if necessary

� Arrange for transfer of vehicle licenses and drivers licenses if required

� Terminate newspaper delivery service

� Have an extra supply of prescription medications for the next four weeks

Week of Your Move

� Keep valuable financial records and personal papers with you. Do not pack them with the rest of your household goods.

� Pack a go box with important items you use every day and items easily lost such as remote controls, contact lens solutions, over the counter medications, alarm clock, dog leash, etc.

� Preferably a few days before closing the Title company and lender will have numbers to review – unfortunately this rarely happens until day before and sometimes day of closing.

� Night before – exercise hand muscles to prepare to sign next day.

� NOTE in most situations you will be unable to move stuff into house prior to closing,even if it is vacant. This is due to risk involved – you cannot insure the house you do not own, and they cannot insure your stuff. Also if the closing fails, it can be very time consuming and difficult to evict someone from the property. Make arrangements to temporarily store items somewhere if needed, but understand it is very rare to have permission to move into home early.

Official Closing

� We will typically meet at the lender’s office to

sign all documents.

� You will need a CERTIFIED CHECK In the

exact amount that the lender says you need to

bring.

� You will also need a copy of your driver’s license

or other official photo id.

� Once the transaction is funded, and the deed is

recorded, the home is yours.

� I will give you the keys to your new home at

closing

Any Questions?

• I just shared a lot of information. I want you to know this transaction is extremely

important. I want there to be no surprises for you.

• I am available to my clients every day of the week, all day (including evenings and

weekends).

Ready to take the next step?

• Purchasing a home is one of the greatest rewards in life.

• I will do my absolute best to give you the personal attention and service you deserve.

• I will help you to find a great home, with fair terms, at a good price.

• Let's work together to make your real estate dreams a reality.

Contact Information

• Cell/Text 308.383.3303 (preferred)

• Email: Lisa_Heineman@msn.com

• Website: GrandIslandAgent.com

• Fax: 308.382.5748

• Address: 4077 Dack Ave

Grand Island, NE 68803

NOTE: I always check my email and text messages. I almost never answer the phone while with clients but check messages frequently.