Here are your 10 practical, time-saving and potentially money saving tips to achieving your goal of home ownership in Peoria!

Step #1 – Select a Peoria real estate website that you can rely on for accurate, local, real-time information about the Tri- County communities including:

Another words, fact-find and do your homework about the market and your preferred area! Being familiar with the communities will help when you are ready to begin searching for your first Peoria home.

Step #2 – Select the Peoria real estate professionals who will help you achieve your goal of home ownership. These individuals should include a loan specialist who will help provide accurate mortgage information on loan options as well as a team of local area real estate experts who will guide you in the home buying process. Once you enter into an exclusive buyer relationship, they will help protect you from legal peril, advise you to local Peoria real estate values, restrictive covenants, HOA dues, and state all related material facts relevant to any property you might have an interest in buying.

Step #3 – Your Peoria real estate agent team should emphasize the importance of securing loan pre-qualification from your lender partner.

Step #4 – Make a checklist of your wants (desires) and needs (must-haves) in your first Peoria home. Allow for a little “wiggle-room” just in case compromise is needed with your list. It’s a practical way to avoid disappointment.

Step #5 – Be familiar with real estate terms, disclosures, sales contracts and other documents you will be signing soon. Always read these documents and be comfortable with the content.

Step #6 – Use a Peoria real estate website that allows you the freedom to search properties by community, by schools and for homes that may not be in the Tri-County MLS.

Step #7 – Once you have selected “the home”, visit the home of your dreams three more times, in the morning, in the evening and when it is raining. Interview neighbors about the community for local insight.

Step #8 – Make an offer and negotiate your best terms and price. THE KNELL GROUP will provide accurate market data to help guide you to the best determination of property value based on previously purchased homes in the same area with similar features and in similar condition. When in doubt, put your preferences in the offer. Not sure if that 40″ flat screen TV “permanently mounted” to the wall conveys? Put it in the offer.

Step #9 – Hire a reputable Peoria home inspector. This tip could be your BIG money saver!

Step #10 – Once your offer becomes a contract and all parties have agreed to the terms and price, that’s when your team of real estate agent representatives truly go to work for you. It’s during this period from contract to close that transactions can fall through. Be sure to select a buyer’s representative who has the resources and the ability to negotiate effectively on your behalf protecting your best home buying interest.

Have You Purchased a Peoria Home Recently?

What did you learn from your recent Peoria real estate transaction that you would include in this list to help other consumers just like you who are striving to achieve the American dream of home ownership?

Mary Ann