Step 6 : Under contract
Congrats, you have agreed a legally binding deal with the seller to buy their property.
All going well, you should be getting the keys to your new home in 30-45 days.
However there’s still a lot that needs to happen before then.
Home inspection
Termite inspection
Lots of legal stuff (don't worry, attorney handles it)
Appraisal (the bank handles this)
Negotiations on some of the items above
Home Inspection
The home inspector's job is to crawl, climb & test everything in your house to find problems. The home inspector will check to make sure you're not buying a lemon or Charleston's version of the money pit.
He works for you and his job is to find problems, you want this guy to be such a stickler for rules that you nearly don't like being around him. Remember that kid in school who loved pointing out everybody's problems well that's the guy you want as your home inspector.
I want someone who knows construction inside out, that's why my preferred home inspector is a former builder. I swear he sits up at night reading building code books.
They crawl under the house to make sure it structurally looks good, they climb in the attic to check the beams up there. They climb on the roof to check it out, they test the a/c, the heating, the water tank, every appliance in the house. It takes anywhere from 2 to 4 hours depending on the house.
At the end, you will get a 50+ page report with everything broken down by mechanical, electrical etc. KEEP THIS REPORT. It is a goldmine of information.
If there are issues with the house (there will be issues with the house, every house), then you can request the seller to fix the issues. Some they are required to fix, some are negotiable. This is another place your realtor earns his bacon. This part can be tetchy and has caused more than a few of the grey hairs on my head.
My best advice for this is choose your battles carefully, pick the main items that are important to you.
Termite Inspection
I don't envy this guy's job, he gets to crawl around under the house while avoiding any furry or scaly squatters that may be lurking down there. He tests the foundation to make sure that termites haven't eaten through the structure. He will come into the house and check the baseboards and other areas. This is Charleston, there are termites everywhere and they don't discriminate based on home value or age. The wise homeowner will have a termite bond.
At the end of the termite inspection, he will issue what is called a CL-100. This is a standard state document and any findings will be reported on it. If there are any issues, they must be cleared, the banks rarely allow the sale to go ahead unless they have a 'clean' CL-100 i.e. any issues found are fixed or determined to be small enough not to affect the house.
Legal Stuff
You will have an attorney, in South Carolina, house closings are done by attorneys. Your tip here is be very nice to the paralegal, they are the ones who do all the work. They have a job slightly above the termite inspector, I don't envy them at all, they have to deal with banks, insurance, home owners association, sellers attorney, county/city/state govts, termite, inspectors and worst of all, me calling every day to see what the status is.
Appraisal
The bank are going to lend you money to buy the house and the bank wants to know that it not lending $500k on a house that's only worth $300k. Well 'the bank' is really some guy sitting in a cubicle in some small town where office space is cheap like Minot, ND....he couldn't find Charleston on a map if it was the last question on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and he definitely doesn't know the value of a house here so he will order a local appraiser to tell him the value of the house. The rules have changed with appraisers, back in the day, the mortgage guy could call his buddy Joe the Appraiser and have him do the appraisal, well times have changed and now the appraiser is totally independent so there are no outside influences.
Continue to Step 7 : Close On Your Home
Got questions ? Contact me darragh@empirecharleston.com or 843 452 2325