Thinking of Buying?
For many people, buying a home is the biggest investment they will ever make. Whether you’ve purchased countless homes or you’re getting ready to buy your first, we recommend you read this article to refresh yourself on the home buying process so you’re prepared to enter the real estate market.
Get Pre-Approved & Prepare Your Finances
The most important question is, what do you want your monthly payment to be? The second most important question is, what’s in a monthly payment? There are 4 main parts of a monthly payment including principal and interest, insurance, private mortgage insurance (PMI), and taxes.
+ Principal (money put towards paying back your loan)
+ Interest (fee for borrowing money)
+ Insurance (homeowner’s insurance)
+ Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) (added to payment only if less than 20% is put down)
+ Taxes (collected in an escrow account and paid by your title company annually)
= Monthly Payment
There are many different kinds of loans but the most common are Conventional (CONV), Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), and Department of Agriculture (USDA). All of these loans have different credit score, down payment, and insurance requirements. Your mortgage broker can help you pick out and apply for a loan that will work best for you. If you already have a bank that you work with, great! Reach out to them to apply for a mortgage. Don’t have a relationship with a local bank? No problem, reach out to your REALTOR® (hopefully it’s The Gundersen Group 😉) and they’ll have some great recommendations for reliable professionals that would be happy to help.
Consultation to Analyze Needs
It’s important to get a clear picture of what your needs, wants, and desires are. Most people think of their wants and needs in terms of bedrooms and bathrooms but it’s also important to consider school districts, commute time to work, proximity to relatives, style of home, neighborhoods, homeowner’s associations (HOAs), and so much more.
This is where your REALTOR® comes in handy. We do this sort of thing all day every day, we can help you refine your criteria to pinpoint a home that balances both your wants and needs.
Let’s Go House Hunting!
The house hunting process can take days, weeks, months, or even years. It’s normal to become frustrated when looking at different houses. We recommend taking a deep breath and doing your best to relax and take your time during the search for your new home. It’s important to keep close contact with your agent to prevent burnout. Trust us, we’ve done this hundreds of times before!
Buyers should have high expectations; but be ready to make compromises eventually. This is an important part of the negotiation process.
Selecting a Home & Making an Offer
We’ve done it, we’ve found the home! It’s now time to sit down and perform a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). This is done by pulling information from comparable listed, pending, and sold properties to help us understand the current value of the property and put together a competitive offer while also limiting risk. Your REALTOR® will advise you on appropriate offer prices and terms based on the data analysis and find (or get) relevant information to help you make a good decision.
The Process
Sellers have 3 options after receiving an offer from a prospective buyer. They can either accept, counter, or decline the offer. This is an example of when having an experience REALTOR® can really make or break a deal. You should have full faith in your agent’s ability to expertly negotiate on your behalf.
Accept // If your offer is accepted, congratulations! It’s time to move forward. Typically no further negotiations will take place until inspections and the appraisal are completed.
Counter-Offer // If the sellers counter your offer, don’t lose hope! This is usually a sign the seller is interested in working with you, there are just a couple of things they’d like to adjust in order to feel comfortable moving forward. We can counter back and forth as many times as we need to make sure the best possible result is received.
Decline // There are an infinite number of reasons why a seller might decline an offer. Your REALTOR® can speak with the seller or seller’s agent to get some insight on why your offer was declined and adjust future offers accordingly.
Following Acceptance of Offer
Woohoo, your offer has been accepted! What now? It’s time to schedule your inspections, order your appraisal, and complete your mortgage application.
What can you inspect?
The answer to this question is just about everything! The most common types of inspections are whole house inspections (plumbing, electrical, heating, cooling, appliances, etc.), termite and wood destroying insect inspections, sewer line scoping, and radon gas. Your REALTOR® can recommend which inspections you should conduct to best protect you.
What’s an appraisal?
Your lender will arrange for a third party appraiser to provide an independent estimate of the value of the property you are purchasing. The appraisal lets all parties involved know that the price is fair and reasonable, this is very important when it comes to loan approval. A bank is not going to want to give you a $400,000 loan on a home only worth $350,000. If the appraiser’s opinion is that the price is not accurate, additional negotiations will take place.
Final Preparations
After any final negotiations have taken place and you’ve been cleared to close by your bank it’s time to take care of some items that need to be completed before you close on your new home. Your REALTOR® can help you with transferring utilities in your name and forwarding your mail from your old address to your new one. We’ll also schedule a final walkthrough of the property to verify it’s in proper condition before officially closing. Can you imagine walking into the beautiful home you wrote an offer on and seeing windows broken, holes in walls, and ceiling fans removed?! This is why we conduct a final walkthrough. It acts as a safeguard to prevent any issues post-closing.
Your lender will provide you with a closing disclosure at least 3 days prior to closing. This document shows your final loan terms and closing costs. You will have 3 days to review this statement. This prevents any surprises from happening at the closing table. If you notice significant discrepancies between your loan estimate and closing disclosure, it’s important to notify your lender and title company immediately.
Closing Day
Nervous about closing day? Don’t worry, your REALTOR® will be by your side throughout the whole signing process. Besides your agent a title company representative, your loan officer, and any real estate attorneys involved in the transaction will be present. Make sure you do some hand stretching leading up to closing, you’ll have a lot of documents to sign!
What do I need to bring?
Make sure you bring your government-issued photo ID (driver’s license) to closing and your payment (cashier’s check) unless a wire transfer has been setup.
Closings can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour. After signing all of the necessary documents your title company will provide you with paper copies for your records and then you’ll be given the keys to your new home. Congratulations, you made it!
Let’s Get Moving!
After you’re given the keys to your new home it’s time to begin transitioning into your new home (assuming your closing and possession dates are the same day). Your REALTOR® can provide you with reliable movers or give you contractor recommendations if any repairs are needed. This is another time when having an experienced and networking focused agent can help you. The Gundersen Group is proud to maintain a large network of reliable local professionals such as contractors, repair services, and interior designers to refer clients to.
There’s a lot of information in this article. Believe it or not, this is only some of the steps within a home buying transaction. We recommend being represented by a buyer’s agent to keep yourself protected during the process. If you’re on the fence about choosing to be represented, we recommend reading our article Why Choose Buyer Representation?
We hope this information has been helpful to you. Feel free to refer friends, family, and loved ones to this page. Regardless of where you are in your home buying journey, it’s important to know what to expect of your journey and from your REALTOR®.
These Properties are provided courtesy of Broker Reciprocity/IDX Lake Of The Ozarks Board of REALTORS® and Bagnell Dam Association of REALTORS® MLS, Inc. Multiple Listing Service. This information is copyrighted by The Lake Of The Ozarks Board of REALTORS® and The Bagnell Dam Association of REALTORS® MLS, Inc. Multiple Listing Service. Information is being provided for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties
consumers may be interested in purchasing. All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be independently verified. All properties are subject to prior sale, change, or withdrawal. Information herein deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Copyright 2026 Lake Of The Ozarks Board of Realtors, Bagnell Dam Assoc. of Realtors. Last Updated: September 23, 2026 5:37 AM UTC
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Lawrence Board of REALTORS® All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. All properties are subject to prior sale, change or withdrawal. Neither listing broker(s) or information provider(s) shall be responsible for any typographical errors, misinformation, misprints and shall be held totally harmless. Listing(s) information is provided for consumer's personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested
in purchasing. The data relating to real estate for sale on this website comes in part from the Internet Data Exchange program of the Multiple Listing Service. Real estate listings held by brokerage firms other than The David Gundersen Team may be marked with the Internet Data Exchange logo and detailed information about those properties will include the name of the listing broker(s) when required by the MLS. Copyright ©2026 All rights reserved.
Last Updated: September 23, 2026 7:21 AM UTC
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