Home Buying: Step 7a - Inspections / Disclosures / Financing

Once escrow is opened, we will start to fulfill the obligations of the contract (most notably completing inspections, disclosures and getting the loan finalized).

Inspections:

Click here for the entry on Property Inspections. We will find out if we need to have any other inspections performed during the property inspection. If the inspector notes termite, water, roof or any other type of damage, he may recommend further specialized inspections such as a termite or roof inspection.

This is another benefit of having the property inspection scheduled the way we do it. It gives you more time to complete the inspections before you have to remove contingencies and close escrow.

Disclosures:

Going through the disclosures is the funnest part of the entire process ;-) The good news is that I will review them first, make notes and get clarification on any points that are not clear or acceptable and then I will go over them with you.

It is best to go over the disclosures before we write the offer, but often times this is not possible. As long as you go over them before the property inspection though, you are fine. I will also send any pertinent information (like any previous inspections on the property) to the property inspector, along with any concerns that we may have so that when he gets to the property he knows which areas in which to pay particular attention.

The documents that you need to pay particularly close attention to are the Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS), the Sellers Supplement to the TDS, the Preliminary Title among others.

The TDS and the Sellers Supplement are where the Seller has the most opportunity and obligation to make disclosures regarding the property for sale. If there are any problems or issues with the property, it is on these forms that we will probably find out about it. If during the inspection, or at some other point during escrow, we find out about something that is not on the TDS or Sellers Supplement, then we will have to deal with it then.

Example:

During the property inspection we find out that two doors are not hung properly, and then scrape across the hardwood floors leaving scratches. But the seller never mentioned it in the TDS or Sellers Supplement. Obviously normal use of the doors should not result in damaged floors!

I called a leading door repair firm in San Francisco and met him at the property to have him prepare a quote for us to fix the doors. He prepared the quote and I subitted an addendum to the seller along with the quote for fixing the door and we got the seller to credit the buyer the entire cost.

Loan / Financing:

During this time you will also be in constant contact with Ye regarding the various loan programs available at that time, and preparing the loan package for submittal to the lender you finally select. This is where Ye is so strong. Her background puts her in a similar position to many of the lender representatives. Most of them have banking, accounting or financial backgrounds which is the same as Ye Gong's. Her ability to talk "their language" or "talk shop" with them puts her in a position to get information first, help the most and to cut through the "advertised specials" that lenders push on mortgage agents, and to get to the program that is going to give you the lowest rate and best terms.

With so many mortgage programs in the market, and each one being essentially a specialized financial instrument, it is easy to see why you need an agent with strong finance and accounting background to essentially analyze the entire market and tell you which program is best and why.

Recently, Ye had a client that during the house hunting process got a job at Wells Fargo in San Francisco. When it came time to get the loan, her client said that Wells Fargo was offering her the "in-house"/employee rate. Ye asked her what it was. When the client got back to Ye and told her what the rate was that Wells Fargo was offering her, Ye was surprised to hear that her initial offer to the client was even lower than Wells Fargo's in-house rate to their own employees!