If you are reading this article you are likely getting ready to purchase your first home. You will not find a beter loan than a USDA loan!  I want to talk about the key players involved in your home purchase and your home loan. The main parties (other than you as a buyer, and the seller) are the Realtors, the Loan Officer, Appraiser, and the Title Company.

Realtors:

                Buyers Agent:

                                A buyer’s agent will represent you in your quest to find your prefect home. A buyer’s agent is a licensed Realtor who has tools to find homes for sale in the areas you are looking to purchase your home in. When you begin working with your agent they will meet with you to determine your needs. They will find out what communities you are willing to live in, how many bedrooms and bathrooms you need, how much property you need, and even what type of home you would like. After your agent finds out all your housing needs they will enter your search parameters into their computer system and will be able to show you any home that is for sale that meets your criteria. You will usually receive an email containing each home and then you can decide which ones you wish to see. At this point your Realtor will set appointments to take you into the homes you have selected.

Remember that each day there may be new listings for sale so if you do not find anything the first couple of days do not give up!

Your Realtor will never charge you for their services. They are paid by the seller of the home, when the home sells.

When you have found a home you wish to place an offer on your agent will write an official offer and submit it to the listing agent. It is very important that before you place an offer you contact your loan officer so they can review the home you wish to place an offer on and they can make sure that it will qualify for a USDA loan. Also, your USDA loan officer will be able to run all the numbers so you will know what the payments will be. It is also important that they run the numbers so you will know how much to request in seller credits to reduce any cash needed at closing.

Your Realtor does not handle the financing of your transaction. You are able to choose whatever financing company you feel comfortable with and trust. You want to make sure you are not swayed to using a company affiliated with your Realtor without good reason. Unfortunately, at times Buyers are told to use a “local” company which is affiliated in some form with the real estate agent or their company. This is common as Realtor’s may get some type of reward for bringing buyers to their finance company. This may not be the most beneficial for your scenario.

Listing Agent:

                                A listing agent represents the seller of a home. You will generally never have any communication with the listing agent.

Loan Officer:

This is us. We will work on your mortgage loan and secure the USDA financing to purchase the home. With over 30 years in the banking business our company is top notch at what we do.  We are extremely knowledgeable with USDA loans, when many have not heard of USDA loans. Customer service is our MAIN focus and we will make sure you are satisfied and kept in the loop every step of the way.

Title Company:

The Title Company (or a real estate attorney) has many duties! They will do a search of all public records that are associated with the property address you are purchasing. If the property has any liens they will order payoffs on these liens, and will obtain tax bills from the county. The Title Company will receive all of your USDA loan paperwork from us and will have you into their office to sign the final loan documents. They are also in charge of dispersing all loan funds to the proper parties. If you to receive your earnest money back at closing the title company will have a check for you at closing.

Appraiser:

After you have a home under contract we will need to order an appraisal on the property. The appraisal will tell us the value of the home. The appraisal is ordered thru a third party appraisal management company (AMC) The appraiser determines the value of the home by comparing it to similar homes in the neighborhood that have sold over the last few months. If there are not any similar homes that have sold the appraiser will look at all home sales in the area and will make adjustments to determine a value.

We hope this helps you have a greater understanding of who does what in the financing process of your USDA loan. To learn more call us at 855-900-USDA or visit us at www.usdardloan.com