How to Buy a Home in Massachusetts

By David Doucette

Buying a home in Massachusetts can appear to be a daunting task. After all, a home buyer must navigate the real estate market, interest rates, the mortgage process, legally binding contracts, home inspections, and more. However, by following these steps, home buyers can make the home-buying process simple, manageable, and reasonably stress free.

1) Choose a Full-time, Competent REALTOR? to be Your Buyer’s Agent

REALTORs? are licensed real estate agents who attend mandatory ethics training and who pledge to abide by these higher ethical standards. A good REALTOR? will guide you through the home-buying process from start to finish. Your REALTOR? will also introduce you to other professionals, such as attorneys and loan officers, who will help you with the legal and financial parts of the home-buying process.

2) Get Pre-approved for a Mortgage

Before you start your home search, it’s important to know how much home, if any, you can afford. Your loan officer will ask for documentation of your income and assets and will pull your credit report - which will show your credit score and any debts you have. After a quick underwriting process, your loan officer will provide you with a pre-approval letter that will state the approved purchase price, the loan amount, the type of loan (conventional, VA, FHA), and any conditions that need to be met before the loan will be approved.?

3) Start Your Online Home Search

Now that you know your budget, you are ready to start home shopping. Your REALTOR? will ask you what you are looking for in a home (# bedrooms, # bathrooms, square footage, # garage spaces, etc) and what towns you are considering. Based on this information, your REALTOR? will create an electronic search that will identify and email to you homes that match your criteria. Also, your REALTOR? will let you know about any homes that are available off market. Review these homes and let your REALTOR? know if you find a home that interests you.

4) Tour Homes

When you find a home that interests you, your REALTOR? will schedule a private showing or will accompany you to an open house. After seeing a home, provide feedback to your REALTOR? so he/she can refine your home search, if required. Continue touring homes until you find a home you love.

5) Make a Strong Offer

When you find a home that meets your needs and you can picture yourself living there, make a strong offer on that home. What constitutes a strong offer will depend on the local real estate market. Your REALTOR? will educate you on the local market and will guide you through the offer-writing process. If your offer is accepted, you will put down a small deposit ($500-1000) to bind the offer.

6) Conduct Inspections

When you write an offer, you can ask for a period of time - typically 7-10 days - to inspect the home. If you asked for an inspection period, schedule a home inspection as soon as your offer is accepted. A standard home inspection will include a visual examination of the physical structure of the home and its major systems. If required, you can hire a licensed contractor to do a more thorough inspection of a particular part or system of the home. For example, if the home inspector noticed a crack in the chimney, you could hire a brick mason to determine the cost to repair the crack. Based on the results of the home inspection, and depending on the terms of your offer, you may be able to back out of the deal or ask the seller to make repairs and/or compensate you for the cost of the repairs.

7) Sign the Purchase and Sale Agreement

The Purchase and Sale Agreement supersedes the offer and contains many details about the home purchase that were not included in the offer. The Purchase and Sale Agreement is typically drafted by the seller’s attorney and is completed by both the seller’s attorney and your attorney. When both you and the seller agree to the contents of the Purchase and Sale Agreement, you and the seller will sign it, and you will put down another deposit.

8) Apply for Your Loan

If you have not done so already, you need to complete your loan application by the deadline specified in the Purchase and Sale Agreement. This deadline is typically a few days after the Purchase and Sale Agreement is signed.

9) Close on Your Home

If your loan is approved and all other contingencies are removed, you can close on your home. The closing is the final step of the home-buying process. You sign the mortgage paperwork, the funds related to the sale are distributed as required, and you and the seller sign documents to transfer ownership of the property. Once the sale is recorded at the county registry of deeds - which typically takes just a few hours – you receive the keys to your new home.

Buying a home in Massachusetts does not have to be complicated. If you start by choosing a full-time, competent REALTOR? to help you navigate the process, you will likely find the process surprisingly simple, manageable, and, hopefully, stress free.

David Doucette is a REALTOR? with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Commonwealth Real Estate in Medfield, Massachusetts. He specializes in helping home buyers and sellers in the suburbs south and west of Boston. You can learn more about him by visiting his website here .