Home ownership is exciting, and there’s no doubt that you’ll be itching to start remodeling and renovating before you’ve even got the paperwork signed. Unfortunately, purchasing a house is a lengthy process, and it takes a cool head and attention to detail to make sure you’ve crossed all the t’s and dotted all the i’s on all the important documents.
As a specialist in escrow can explain, there are many things to be excited about when you’re purchasing a home – and just as many challenges. Fortunately, you can get in touch with an experienced legal advisor who can help you through the whole process, and even help you after you’ve finalized your purchase.
Why Should I Contact an Escrow Service?
In some cases, it’s possible to purchase a house without relying on an escrow service for legal and financial advice. But you should remember that it’s also possible to go skydiving without a parachute: It’s not recommended, and it usually ends badly. When you contact an escrow service, you’re taking a step to protect yourself and the seller, and it can show you’re serious about buying the home, too.
When you finally find the house you’ve been looking for, you can’t just buy it like you’re buying a pair of shoes. You need to negotiate with the seller, and you’ll usually have to contribute a certain amount of money ahead of time to prove you’re committed. This money, known as a “good faith deposit” goes to the seller if you fail to complete the buying process – but if you do everything right, the deposit goes towards your down payment.
This good faith deposit doesn’t exist in a vacuum. And since it can go in either direction depending on how the purchase goes, it can’t sit with either you or the seller. Instead, the money in the good faith deposit sits in an escrow account: It’s kept by a third party until the right terms and conditions have been met. This is where an escrow service comes in.
Escrow After Your Purchase
An escrow service can also help you after you’ve already purchased your house. By maintaining an escrow account during home ownership, you’re actually streamlining the amount of payments you have to make over the course of the year. You have to pay for homeowner’s insurance, and you have to pay property taxes. Fortunately, if you have an escrow account, it takes the money for these payments directly from your mortgage payments.
Over the course of the year, each mortgage payment will contribute a bit of money to your escrow account, and when it’s time to pay for insurance and taxes, the escrow account will handle it. It’s a load off your shoulders, and when you get in touch with an escrow service you can really trust, it’s valuable peace of mind.
If you’re looking forward to buying your home, you shouldn’t let the legal hoops rain on your parade. Fortunately, an experienced escrow service can also provide useful advice for how you can navigate your way through the entire process. Get in touch with an escrow service today, and see how you can get started on buying a home the right way.