Buyer Questions, Answered

Two things, at the same time. Get an honest picture of your finances (savings for the down payment and closing costs, your monthly budget, your credit), and sit down with a lender about a pre-approval. The pre-approval letter tells you which price range is actually yours, and sellers treat a pre-approved offer differently than one without.

Get quotes from two or three lenders, and make one of them a local bank or credit union. Compare the APR rather than the headline rate, and look at points, lender fees, and the term. Ask each one to break the monthly payment into principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and any PMI, so you know you are comparing the same thing.

Write down what you need and what you would merely like. Commute, school district, bedrooms, lot size: rank them. Give that list to your agent and we will set up property alerts that fit it and ignore the listings that do not. Buyers who know their priorities spend a lot less time touring the wrong houses.

A buyer's agent negotiates price and terms, flags problems while you can still walk away, coordinates the inspection and appraisal, and keeps the contract moving to closing without putting your earnest money or due diligence fee at risk. On compensation: since August 2024 the rules have changed, and you should be clear on how they work. In North Carolina you and your agent sign a written agency agreement before touring homes, and it states exactly what that agent is paid and how. The fee is negotiable. Sellers frequently still offer to cover some or all of it, but if a seller offers nothing, or less than the fee you agreed to, the difference is yours to pay. We put those numbers in front of you before you look at a single house.

North Carolina contracts include a due diligence period that you negotiate up front. During it you can inspect the property, work through the appraisal and your financing, and order a survey. You can also terminate for any reason, or no reason. If you walk away inside that window you forfeit the due diligence fee but keep your earnest money. It is the most valuable protection in the contract, so use the time.

Budget 2% to 5% of the purchase price on top of your down payment. That covers loan origination, title insurance, the closing attorney (North Carolina closings are handled by attorneys, not title companies), prepaid taxes and insurance, and recording fees. Sellers will sometimes agree to pay part of it, which is a term you negotiate like any other.

Yes. New houses have defects too, and finding them during due diligence costs you far less than finding them after closing. Most builders have no objection to an inspection by a licensed inspector.

Be fully pre-approved rather than pre-qualified. Keep the offer clean: a serious due diligence fee, a closing date that suits the seller, and no contingencies beyond the ones you actually need. Then let your agent talk to the listing agent, because knowing what the seller is really optimizing for (a fast close, a rent-back, a quiet sale) is often worth more than another few thousand dollars. Skip the personal letter to the seller. It creates fair housing exposure, and many listing agents now refuse to pass them on.