Wallowa County Real Estate

Real Estate Buyer's Guide

Buyer's Guide

Are you considering purchasing a property in Wallowa County? Maybe one of our gorgeous Wallowa Mountain Properties? Wallowa Valley Real Estate has put together all the tools, articles, and agency referrals that you will need to accomplish your goals in Joseph. Wallowa, and Enterpise Oregom.

My goal as your Realtor is to help you thru the often complex process of purchasing your property. I will support you from the beginning of the process to the end of escrow. We will work very closely together to eliminate common mistakes and to avoid costly mistakes. I will personally assist you through the process with a strong attention to detail and outstanding customer service.

To assist you in the purchase of your dream property, please contact me for more information and let me help you find your perfect property.

In the meantime, please spend some time on this site checking out the informative links, resources, and various real estate tools to help you refine your real estate purchase.

I sincerely look forward to helping you accomplish your real estate goals.

House Buying 101

For many people, purchasing a home is not an everyday occurrence. As a Realtor, my job is to help you through this process with as little stress as possible to you. Let me give you a bit of a guideline.

Do you have cash for the purchase or do you need a loan?

How much of a down payment can you afford? Meet with your lender/banker and see what amount you qualify for? The more cash you have to put down gives you a lesser payment. If you have 20% to put down, you will not have to pay PMI (mortgage insurance) and that will allow for a lesser payment.

Now, the fun begins:

Find a Realtor that fits with your needs and time frame. All people are different personalities and so are Realtors. Find one that you feel
comfortable with and that will give you the time you need to do the necessary research involved to make a purchase.

Let me run through the scenario involved with house hunting.....

We will look through the RMLS, which is a Realtor’s “guide book” for current properties for sale.  It will have all the listings that are
available or if they have a sale pending but may have a contingency that would cause the sale to fail and may be on the market again. 

Your Realtor can search by price, size of property or location to get a sampling of homes, farms, business, or vacant lands that will fit your needs.  Once you accomplish this, you can then set a date for looking at the desired property.  Usually, a day in advance is suggested to give the homeowners the opportunity to ready for the showing or to give tenants their 24 hour notice. 

Once you and your Realtor look at all the homes available in your price range and location and find the perfect one, you make an offer, usually contingent upon financing and home inspection and anything else that is important to your particular situation.  You and your Realtor will write up a Sale Agreement and you put down earnest money to show your intent to purchase.  From this point forward, it may get interesting and can be frustrating to the Buyer, or Seller, as well.  This is where working with a Realtor can help relieve your stress and come to terms with the Sellers on a property.

Seller may accept your offer or may counter your offer.

You accept their counter or else make a new counter back to the Seller and this happens until either you come to an agreement as to purchase price or one of you rejects the other offer with no counter.

You are given a copy of the four page Seller Property Disclosure, Lead Base Paint Disclosure and Siding Disclosure. Your real
estate agent will go over these with you and if you have any unanswered questions, your Realtor will contact the Seller's agent and find out the answers for you.

Okay, home inspection is ordered and completed. What if... there are some items on the inspection report that you as the Buyer don't feel comfortable with. Your agent will write an addendum asking the Seller to make the repairs specified. They in turn will either agree to make the repairs or else say "no" you can do these. This opens it up again, to your decision whether you want to proceed or call it quits.

Sometimes your Realtor will call for a septic inspection and a well flow test. The well purity test is required by the state, paid for
by the Buyer, and will be performed sometime prior to close of escrow.  The septic inspection and flow test are extra costs and may be paid for either by the Buyer or Seller.

The bank/lender orders an appraisal of the property. The appointment is made with the homeowner and the licensed appraiser takes a look at the home and then will start the process of finding comparable sales within the last six months that would be somewhat similar to your future home.

What if the appraisal comes in short of the purchase price???  Okay, again negotiations may be reopened. The Buyer will have the option to either pay the difference, ask the Seller to split it with them or ask the Seller to reduce to the appraised value. If none of the
above happens, the deal will fail and earnest money will be returned.

Escrow is opened at Wallowa Title Co. here in Enterprise. What is escrow? This is where the sale agreement is given to the title company and they proceed to check the chain of title and for any liens that may have been placed on the property.

The title company will prepare a "preliminary title report" that  you, as the Buyer, have the right to review. This report will tell of
any liens placed on the property by mortgage companies or others, any easements through the property and any judgments against the Seller or the Buyers that need to be acknowledged. Once this is approved by the Buyer, we will move towards the prearranged closing date.

The lender continues to do their business through this time. They will be asking for verification of employment, bank statements,
credit report/history, list of your assets and debts, and various other things they want.

The date is arriving for the closing.  You will need to contact your insurance agency and arrange for homeowner's insurance to be ready for the property. Your Realtor can give you a list of local companies to service your needs.

Contact the appropriate utility companies about your purchase and make the necessary applications to have the power/water/sewer/propane/oil transferred into your name. Your Realtor will help you with names of companies and/or make the calls for you.

A couple of days prior to closing, the title company will contact your Realtor and arrange for a time that will be convenient for you to come to the title company to sign the documents. At this time, you will need to bring your identification, a cashier's check for the down payment and be prepared to sign a LOT of documents.

On the closing date, the title company will have received the okay from your lender to go ahead and "fund" the purchase of your home.
With this authorization, the title company will record the deed and legally make the home yours. 

You receive the keys and "MOVE IN".

Let me be of service to you!