STEP FIVE - Offer to Purchase
An offer to purchase is a legal document describing, in specific language, the terms under which you want to purchase a home. This includes the purchase price, the date by which you want to complete the purchase, your desired mortgage interest rate and terms, whether you want to have the home inspected prior to purchase, etc.
PRE-APPROVAL LETTER: Before you make an offer to purchase, we will need you to obtain a "pre-approval" letter from one of our lenders (for more information about working with a lender, see Step 4 ). This letter verifies that a lender has reviewed your credit score, income and assets, and has determined that as long as you have accurately disclosed your income, assets and debts, you would qualify for a mortgage loan to purchase a land trust house. [NOTE: This is not a formal loan commitment from your lender -- that comes later after we have accepted your offer to purchase.]
WE CAN HELP YOU PUT TOGETHER THE OFFER TO PURCHASE: When you purchase a home from the land trust, we have a offer to purchase form that we can put together on the computer where we can include the different terms and conditions that work for you. We also include something called the Addendum to the Offer to Purchase that lists out some items that are unique to a land trust purchase.
When you are ready to submit an offer to purchase, land trust staff will sit down with you, go over all the forms, and make sure that you fully understand what is involved in submitting an offer to purchase. Some of our buyers consult with an attorney prior to submitting an offer to purchase, and some don't.
Once the land trust has accepted your offer to purchase, you will have 5 days to pay earnest money (usually $500 -- which will be returned to you if the deal does not go through), and 7 days to submit the required income verification forms.
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