Hi El Paso Home Buyers
 
So glad you found my site helpful.  As a Buyer's Agent, I invest a tremendous amount of time and money to provide these real estate tools and services for my clients. Please call to set up an appointment to meet.
 
If you are trying to take advantage of the First Time Home Buyer tax credit then time is of the essence. Because the process of buying a home can take 2-4 months on average, you are running out of time.
 
You may be wondering why the process takes so long. First, you need to pre-qualify because 99% of seller's want a pre-qualification letter to make sure you have the ability to purchase their home. Call me for El Paso Mortgage companies with many years of experience in bond, FHA, and VA programs and will handle your application promptly.
 
Pre-qualification should take about 24-48 hours.  Then you shop for your home, which can take from 2-4 weeks depending on your expectations. Once you have selected the right home, I proceed to negotiate a contract with the seller. Depending on the number of contingencies, the negotiation process can take a few days.  Once the contract has been executed by both parties, you are going to schedule and pay for a termite and home inspection, which can take about a week. I always make my purchase agreements contingent on inspection.  It is likely the home inspector my find some issues with the home depending on the age of the home. We then need to decide if you want to take the house as is or we need to ask for concessions from the seller. If the seller makes the requested repairs then that will take some time.
 
Your lender will require an appraisal which can take 3-7 days due to the changes in appraisal laws.  Once the appraisal is done (hopefully at or above the price you offered) the loan goes to an underwriter for review which can take several days. Your lender will often require that you have PMI if you put down less than 20% on the home mortgage.
 
This is just a brief summary of what to expect in the process. I can provide more details at our meeting but in the meantime, you can read all about buying a home at Texas Real Estate.