The Buying Process

I thought it might be helpful to many potential buyers out there to see, step by step, the process that occurs when someone buys a property in Northern Michigan. Over the weekend we put together a transaction on a unique riverfront property and I thought I would update the blog as the process moves forward to give a little window into the process. It may be a smooth transaction with no glitches or it may end up being a mess somewhere in the middle. I don't know at this point, but it will be an interesting experiment as we move along. Here's the setup.

The week before last I was contacted by two separate parties who had an interest in a very nice riverfront property. One party came up on Saturday (Buyer #1) to take a look. We showed them this parcel and three others on the same river that I thought they might be interested in. After that day, I think they had a pretty good sense of the property that would best suit their needs, but they wanted to return in a few days to look at a few properties on another river to get a better base of knowledge before making an offer.

On Monday, the other party (Buyer #2) came to look at the same property. Because it was the only one they really had an interest in, it was the only one we showed them. Just the husband was able to make the trip, so we set up a time on Friday when he and his wife could return.

On Wednesday Buyer #1 spent the afternoon looking at more properties and it seemed like they had all the information they needed. I let them know that we had another interested party so they had that information when or if they decided to make an offer. The next day, they came into my office to draft an offer, which I presented to The Seller. The Seller wanted to wait to see if another offer might come in the following day when Buyer #2 returned with his spouse.

On Friday Buyer #2 returned to the property and decided it was just right for their needs. They already have one river property that they will subsequently sell, but this transaction was not contingent upon that sale. Buyer #2 drafted an offer so strong that The Seller accepted it as written.

I had the unenviable task of contacting Buyer #1 and letting them know that their offer was not accepted and that the other party was able to come to terms with The Seller. They chose not to place their offer in a back up position in the event Buyer #2 could not carry out the transaction.

Today I provided a copy of the accepted purchase agreement to The Lender for Buyer #2 and ordered a Title Insurance Policy through a local title company. I'll also get contact information to The Buyer for a few local home inspectors so they can set up the home inspection. The county where the property is located requires a septic and well evaluation and The Seller agreed to do this at their cost. I'll help The Seller coordinate the well and septic evaluation today as well.

We're underway now. We'll have to wait and see how the home inspection goes and an appraiser should be contacting me shortly to set up a time for that end of the process.

Check in soon to see how things go between now and the closing which is going to take place on or before June 20th according to the purchase agreement. Please feel free to comment on this post if you have any questions as we go through the transaction. Because of confidentiality concerns, I'll be very careful not to include any personal or detailed information about the parties involved in this transaction or the property itself.