#19 Activating Your Team: Full Speed Ahead!


You have found the home you want, have submitted an offer and the offer has been accepted!  At this point the team you have carefully chosen has already been hard at work fulfilling their specific roles on your behalf.  They have helped you appropriately get to this stage of your home purchase plans, and they are now ready to move forward with you through all the appropriate “next steps.”

Your home search-and-purchase team is like a fine-tuned machine that is organized to be sure each important responsibility, task and obligation is met and handled.   Those three: responsibilities, tasks and obligations, while very closely related, each have distinct characteristics that require specific expertise and focus.   For instance, a “responsibility” might be that of keeping clear and complete communication and documentation records of all activities.   “Tasks” would be all the detail management and follow-through required to fulfill each process.  An example of an “obligation” would be to be available when needed, to respond to all communications (phone, text, email, snail mail), to keep appointments on time, deliver authorizations, provide sign-offs, and when in doubt – ask!

Those three concepts, obviously, work in close proximity with each other.  Your Lending Officer, Residential Realtor, Appraiser, various Inspectors, Insurance professionals and other specialists are the team that now analyses your accepted purchase offer and proceeds to action on all directives and stipulations agreed to by you and the Seller.

Every offer and every acceptance typically contains stipulations to which both parties have agreed.   There may be certain characteristics about the property for which understandings and modifications exist.  Inspection mandates for pest, septic, well water, foundation condition, etc., are ordinarily attached to conditions in the agreed sale document.   The financial obligation for such activities is usually decided in advance of finalizing acceptance of the offer.   Appraisal of property in the process of a
purchase is ordered by the Lender and implemented by an acceptable appraisal management company.

All parties must be vigilant with timelines, and all parties need to know the planning and patterns of the overall progress forward. That’s why communication and documentation is so important!   Many of the actions mentioned above will proceed simultaneously, and therefore the “traffic” created through necessary access to the property needs to be scheduled with consideration.  The property for sale may be occupied, making it very important to consider the occupants convenience when scheduling access to the property – interior or exterior.

The time constrictions, within the offer details and its acceptance terms, must be respected.   It is very important for the Buyer to also carefully review their choice of the property.   The time to put all doubts to rest, OR, change your mind (within the parameters and timeline allowed in the documents) is now!

It is sometimes tempting to try to micro-manage the work your team is doing on multiple levels; but it is seldom a good idea!  Remember, you selected qualified professionals, so let them do what they know how to do, and are there to do for you.  Don’t confuse micromanaging with the reasonable need for keeping yourself informed, asking pertinent questions or even expressing confusion!    One is absolutely important – involving legitimate inquiries; the other is simply needless interference that invites misunderstanding, errors and wasted time.

Efficiency needs to be well balanced with expedition.     Now is not the time to take shortcuts or skip over details in an effort to “speed things up.”   Your team is in full swing and needs your support, your cooperation, your patience and your availability.   The process will soon be ready for the Title Company – and that’s the home stretch!

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