The Buying Process

The home buying process can take as little as 1 month or as long as 6 months. It generally takes most buyers 2-4 months to find and close on their new home.

Loan Pre-Approval (1-2 Days)
It’s not required to have a pre-approval letter before looking at homes, but it’s a good practice. You will need a pre-approval letter in order to make an offer & it takes 10-15 minutes to fill out the application, followed by a few emails to provide supporting documents.
Home Search (1-3 Months) Click Here to Read Our 5 Tips for A Great Home Search
Everyone searches at their own pace, so it’s difficult to know exactly how long it will take for you to find your new home. You want to move forward on a property when you’re comfortable that you understand the market. This can take a weekend or a few months. Most people search for 1-3 months before making an offer. We love helping people find the perfect home and you can read our 5 Tips for a Great Home Search here.
Make an Offer (1-3 Days)
When it’s time to make an offer, we will send a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) to you, which helps us understand if the property is priced correctly and what to offer. Depending on how much we need to negotiate the purchase, it usually takes 1-3 days to put a property under contract.
Contract to Close (30-45 Days)
Once you’re under contract, it will take 30-45 days to close.A complete list of steps can be found here, but the most important steps are:

Executed Date: The date that all parties agree and sign the contract is the executed date. You will have 3 days to deposit your earnest money to title (usually 1% of the purchase price) and your option fee directly to the seller. (The option fee varies based on the situation, but is generally 0.1% of the purchase price).

Option Period (5-10 Days): You will have a 5-10 day option period, during which you will have your property inspected (inspections are usually ~$500). It’s normal for your inspector to find some deficiencies in the property and we will usually negotiate repairs during this time. If there are too many repairs necessary to move forward, you can cancel the contract and you’ll get your earnest money back (though the seller keeps the option fee).

Appraisal (2-3 Weeks): As soon as you’re through the option period, you will instruct your lender to order the appraisal, which is ~$500 and can be paid at closing. We’ll get the results of the appraisal roughly 2 weeks after it’s ordered. The appraisal verifies to the lender that the property is worth what you’re paying. If the property doesn’t meet that value, you can walk away from the contract and get your earnest money back.

Underwriting (3-4 Weeks): Your lender's underwriter will review all loan documents, which usually takes 3-4 weeks. The underwriting process starts before the appraisal is in, but can’t be completed until the appraisal is received. During the underwriting process, it’s normal for your lender to ask you for additional documents. (This doesn’t mean the loan is in jeopardy in any way.)

Homeowner's Insurance & Utilities (5-10 Days Before Closing): You’ll want to have your insurance in place & the utilities scheduled to be turned on for the day of closing.

Review Settlement Statement (2-3 Days Before Closing): Your lender will provide you with a required disclosure 3 days before closing & the title company will provide you the settlement statement 2-3 days before closing. This is arguably the most important closing document because it tells you how much money you need to bring & an itemization of what you’re paying for. If you would like to see any other closing documents prior to closing, you can request them.

Closing Day (30-45 Days After Contract): This is the most exciting day of the process! Make sure you’ve wired in your proceeds prior to closing and bring a government-issued ID with you. If you can’t be in town for closing, we can arrange a remote closing where a mobile notary will come to you.
After Closing
It’s natural for you to have questions about the home & homeownership after closing. We’re always available to answer questions and to provide you with referrals to any vendors you may need. Our relationship doesn't end at closing and we’re always happy to help in any way we can!

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5-Star Service

JC was very helpful during the process of buying my first home. He directed me to lenders that truly had my best interest at heart. I almost made a few bad decisions that JC was there to wave off for me. I truly appreciate JC's responsiveness to ALL of my many questions and his willingness to be a sounding board for my frustrations in the process. I still hear from JC from time to time ensuring that I am happy with my home and letting me know of up and coming business in my area that might affect my property value. I will absolutely be using JC to purchase my next home.

Christopher Penaloza

JC Adams

JC does a great job with attention to detail and ensuring he has answers to your questions as you navigate the process of a home purchase. JC understands the process of the transaction in a home purchase and makes sure the details are covered.

LanceLunsford

JC Adams

Ruth helped us to view many houses and (over months) to make multiple offers in a really, really tough market for buyers. Our low bids were our own fault! Ruth's guesses are always spot on. We finally had a bid accepted last month, and Ruth helped us re-negotiate after significant problems were discovered. Ruth has gone above and beyond for us, giving us far more time during this long search than we could reasonably have expected. She even helped us look for a rental when we'd basically given up. Her advice has always been immensely valuable and brutally honest. She is the most knowledgeable agent I've met on the Central Austin market. She also handled our stress well, and believe me, buying in Austin right now is stressful!

Christopher Dunn

Ruth E. Powers | Buyers

Excellent service and follow through. Very professional!

Jerry Nash

Kristen Balke

I highly recommend Kristen for all real estate needs.

Steve Sanders

Kristen Balke

I had a great experience working with Bramlett Partners Real Estate. Jean Holm was my agent and she & her team made the whole process very simple. She explained everything very well, was knowledgeable, had great advice, and got our home sold. Definitely reccomend!

Danielle Hughes

Jean Holm | Buyers

I worked with Jeremy Vandermause to buy my first home. Jeremy was so patient throughout the process (which I definitely dragged out as I gathered all the facts). He consistently sent me homes I was interested in and was eager to show them off, and on the odd occasions where I found one he hadn't already seen he always made himself available to walk through with me. He was very helpful in those walkthroughs pointing out home features I would have missed, or providing context on neighborhood. As a native Austinite, he definitely knows the history and cultural fabric of the city and each neighborhood. I started with close to zero knowledge of the home-buying process and Jeremy walked me through every step with clarity and patience. So excited about the home I now own! Plus, he's just a legit cool dude. I always really enjoyed our conversations and could tell from the start he was someone worth knowing in Austin

Jeremy K

Jeremy K |

This review is about Joe Gage, their real estate agent. I'm based in Sam Francisco and was looking for investment property in Austin. I tried out three different agents based on recommendations from different sources, including Yelp. Joe clearly stands out. He's very patient and responsive. I'm not familiar with the area at all thus had a lot of questions. His email reply contains detailed information of the neighborhood, including shops nearby, schools and so on. He regularly screen houses and give recommendations once he sees a good fit for investment house offered at reasonable price. He's very knowledgeable about the area. All his recommendations comes with details around why he thinks it's a good investment and sales/rental data in the neighborhood to justify the price he thinks it's worth as well as the expected rental income. I found him to be very methodical and organized. He's not a typical sales person. Maybe this is because he used to be an accountant. Needless to say he earned our trust and we went with him to make the purchase. I was very impressed through the whole process. He's very calm and never pushy. His recommendation on the bid price was right on and he was very good at following up with various parties to push things through. The process went through very smoothly. If anyone is looking for a good real estate agent in Austin, I'd recommend Joe whole-heartedly. His professionalism and calm personality make him a real pleasure to work with.

Jian M.