Looking for step-by-step tips to buying a home? Take 5 minutes and learn from the pros. Get your mortgage, real estate and title process organized and on track.
GDW The real estate market is sizzling hot right now and our Real Deal team is here to help you get ahead of the competition. I’m joined by Chong Yi of The Yi Team at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp, Josh Greene at Eastern Title and Settlement, and Lonnie Whitehead of Powerhouse Realty. Welcome back to Great Day Washington!
JOSH Good morning!
CHONG Thank you!
LONNIE Good morning!
GDW Now the real estate market is hot right now in addition to it being summer, you have some tips on the perfect buying process so that viewers can get ahead of the home buying. Tell us about that.
CHONG I think that everything you do in life should have a certain process. That you can do from beginning to end, figuring every step that you should do, because you need to set the right expectations to advise someone what is going to happen next. This is interesting, when I found out we were going to talk about this, I was like “wow! for once, somebody who’s actually putting it on paper. On our team we have a perfect loan process that we try to do for every single transaction. But I’ve never really heard of a realtor. Actually they probably do, but…
JOSH I’ve never heard of a realtor having a checklist. I know we have them, but when a realtor has one?! Wow! I’m impressed.
GDW This is great. For home buyers this is the biggest purchase they’ll ever make in their lives and you have this step-by-step process that takes the pressure off, puts them more at ease. Tell us about that.
LONNIE What I like to do is sit down with a homebuyer first, go through this process. The process starts off the first step on that is select an agent, which hopefully will be me. And it will shows them a nice visual outlook of what’s gonna happen each step of the way from selecting your lender, because that’s important for the preapproval letter, and also letting them know they have to select a good title company that will help them close that deal.
JOSH The other thing he was telling me was it’s color coded so each color represents something different. Like orange is money or green is money?
LONNIE Correct. It’s a nice visual. So when you see orange you know it’s going to come out of your pocket before settlement. One of the first questions I get is when do I have to spend money before I go to settlement? So I show them for example the home inspection they have to pay out of pocket, termite inspection. Earnest money deposit has to go out with the offer.
GDW This is so organized! So the homeowners can concentrate on all the wonderful things they’re going to do with their homes. So you have really laid it out for them. So this flow chart, it takes people from beginning to end Lonnie?
LONNIE Correct.
GDW Tell us more about this. Because when they get to the end, how are people feeling at the end of this process?
LONNIE You know every time I go through this process that I actually got from my broker. I learned this from my broker years ago, I learned a lot from him. This process helps the transaction go so smoothly. All my clients tell me they’ve heard so many horror stories about working with realtors, and going through the process. Giving them this in the beginning, it just makes this a lot easier.
GDW It’s the yellow brick road. And I’m sure, Josh and Chong that this is like a breeze when you have a realtor come to settlement it just makes it a lot easier.
CHONG Can I just say, about Lonnie, who he reminds me of?
GDW Who is that?
CHONG One of the greatest football minds of all time, and probably one of the greatest, may he rest in peace. His name is Bill Walsh. And what they used to do, they would script out the first drive, regardless of what the defense is doing, and practice it until it’s perfection. And because of that he’s won 4-5 football championships. So I consider now, Lonnie, the Bill Walsh of real estate.
ALL Hahaha, that is awesome.
LONNIE I appreciate that, I appreciate that.
GDW Well in order to win a championship, you do have to be strategic, you do have to have a plan.
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