Today, you can buy almost anything online. And that includes a house as well. Yes, you read that right! You can now buy a home by completing the entire process online, right from finding a mortgage lender to closing the deal. If you’re looking to buy a house online in Essex County’s Fairfield, Livingston, Glen Ridge, or Bloomfield and are trying to find an answer to ‘how do we buy houses in NJ online?’, this step-by-step guide is just what you need.
Steps involved in buying a house online
Given below are the core steps that you’ll need to navigate when buying a house in Essex County online whether from we buy houses NJ companies or from individuals that advertise something like “I want to sell my house NJ”:
- Find a mortgage lender
You’ll need to do some online research to find a reliable mortgage lender that’s capable of conducting business with you virtually. The next step is to get your mortgage preapproved. This pre-approval process will help you identify the price of a home that you can afford and prove you have genuine intentions to buy. Getting your mortgage preapproved before you start house hunting would give you a competitive edge as you can make a faster offer than those buyers whose mortgage hasn’t yet been preapproved.
- Find a reputed and reliable real estate agent
When you’re searching for a house online and planning to complete the entire buying process online, you’ll need a reliable and reputed real estate agent, who would help you find a property that fits your budget, preferences, and needs. To make the right choice, you should ask your agent questions about his/her experience with remote purchases to get a fair idea of how comfortable it would be to work with him/her. Apart from his/her expertise, his/her inside knowledge too can be of great help when buying a house online.
- Short-list a few homes
This is an important step in ‘how we buy houses in NJ online’ where you’ll search a few real estate websites to find online listings of houses in your ZIP code that feature full property descriptions and multiple photos of different areas and rooms. You can even ask your real estate agent to send you recommendations for houses based on your criteria, which would help you to take your pick. Once you’ve short-listed two or three houses, you can take a virtual tour of the property, ask critical questions, and if satisfied, decide to move ahead.
- Make an offer
After you have chosen a house, work with your agent to know what the area’s housing market is like at present before you make an offer. Having this knowledge would let you make a competitive offer. You can complete this process online easily as your real estate agent would be able to send your offer letter to the listing agent through email along with the contingencies, if any. You’ll then be informed if your offer has been rejected, accepted, or countered-offered.
- Get ready for closing
After your offer is accepted, you should get ready for the closing process. You’ll need to complete a few steps before closing on your new house. This includes getting an appraisal, having an inspection done, and completing the underwriting process.
An appraisal would be typically conducted by a third party and once it’s completed, your lender will inform you and send you their report electronically, which you can review.
Getting a home inspection done during an online purchase is different from doing it during a traditional home sale where the inspector would let you know of his/her findings to give you clarity on the house’s profile. Since doing all these online isn’t always possible, you could ask your agent to be present at the house during the inspection to take photos, notes, or videos. Additionally, you should ensure the inspector emails you a detailed report to help you carefully analyze the house’s actual condition. Else, you’ll never know what you have walked into, especially when you’re completing the entire buying process online.
Your mortgage lender will handle underwriting by evaluating all of your financial records and finalizing the necessary paperwork you’ll need to close on the house. As an online buyer, this step would be a breeze as you’ll just need to monitor your messages in an online portal and emails to confirm that everything is processed as required and is up to date.
- Closing on the house
This is the last step where you’ll sign the necessary paperwork and hand over your down payment together with the closing costs in the presence of a notary agent (in-person or remote). After this, the house will be officially yours.
So, go ahead and enjoy this simple solution to ‘how do we buy houses in NJ online?’ by following the steps listed above.
