Chicago's Source for Buyer agent mortgages and home re-financing, 1st Home Group

Jeff Kropp,
Buyer's Agent

Phone: 773-321-7022

Address:
1st Home Group
1122 W Armitage Ave Chicago, IL 60614

Buyer Testimonials:

"Jeff has done a great job handling my loan on my apartment building. After a couple refinances, my monthly payment has dropped at least $500 a month. And these are no-cost refinances, so I am never out-of-pocket at my closing." Rich Caner, MD

"I worked with Jeff and 1^st Home Group to find my condominium in Lincoln Park. I could not believe how smooth the process was. Within a month, I had found the perfect place with my own rooftop deck. They handled all the paperwork and got me a great low-interest loan. A month later, I closed on the place. I had always heard home buying would be a pain; not with these guys." Dave Bennett

Our Free Services

The services that 1^st Home Group provides to our home buyers are always free. How do we stay in business? The seller pays our fees in the form of a commission. That's it! In turn, you, the buyer, receive free representation from us.

Though the seller pays our fees, we are compensated in other ways as well. We receive great personal satisfaction when we deliver what we promised- the perfect home at a fair price. We also know that once we have proved ourselves that you will also refer us to your family, friends, co-workers, and others that you care about.

When we help you find a home, we follow a series of carefully orchestrated steps to make sure that at the end of the process, you have found the right home and a price that's fair. These steps and the services we provide in each step are as follows:

Your Loan

One of the first and most important steps is pre-qualification. This helps us define an appropriate price range for you. Also, we can inform sellers that you are pre-approved for a loan so that they view your offer as a good one.

In just a few minutes, we input your information into our desktop underwriting system to determine if you qualify for a loan and for how much. While some clients find that they need to lower their price range, many find that they can actually afford a lot more than previously thought.

Once we know that you are approved, we begin our extensive loan consultation which continues until you buy your home. We will discuss with you all of the different loan programs available and the advantages and disadvantages of each of these. Many clients choose the 30-year fixed rate mortgage, but we will also see if a balloon loan or adjustable rate mortgage (ARMs) could significantly lower your mortgage payment, especially if you plan on selling your home within five or ten years.

Finally, once you have found a home, we will research dozens of wholesale lenders nationwide to find the best interest rates on the particular loan that you have chosen. We will prepare the loan application for you and discuss the terms of the loan with you in detail before you sign anything. As part of this process, we will explain each and every closing cost to you when we go over your Good-Faith Estimate, and we will show you exactly where your $500 preferred buyer credit appears.

Your Home Search

The second step is to work with you to come up with a list of the features in a home that are important to you, such as property type, size, location, and features. From there, we will use our familiarity of the Chicago market and your loan parameters to help you set some realistic goals.

Part of this process is to determine what features and location are must-haves versus things that you may be willing to live without. Since Chicago has dozens of neighborhoods, we will help you choose the areas that are best for you. An ideal area would be one that provides you with access to transportation, is close to places of interest to you, and also offers a strong rate of appreciation so that your home is a good investment. While you may have some areas in mind, we can provide you with some better options you may not have thought of.

Once we have a realistic idea of the home type and location that meets your needs and wants (and is in your budget), we conduct a thorough search of available homes on the market. The starting point of this search is the Multiple Listing Service for Northern Illinois, or MLS for short. The MLS provides a huge database of available homes on the market. We will set up a personal web page for you that will display all the available homes that meet your criteria. When new homes are listed on the market, you will immediately receive an email informing you of the new listing and advising you to check your web page. When you see a home on your web page that you would like to see, simply move it to your favorites section so that we can see it and easily schedule an appointment. While other buyers are searching old listings in the Sunday newspaper that are already sold, you will be receiving instant notification of new homes so you can see them first. If your list of favorites is lengthy, we help you narrow the search to a more manageable list of homes to tour.

Tour Select Homes with Agent

Once you have identified a number of homes that you want to see (and moved them to your favorites section on your web page), we will contact the seller's agent and schedule appointments for each home. When possible, we will accompany you to each appointment. While showing you the properties, we will look for areas of concern or reasons that this property may or may not fit into your criteria of priorities selected at the beginning of your search.

Many clients enjoy searching for homes on the own as well, such as walking around to open houses on Sunday. No problem- just call us immediately if you see a home you like and make sure to inform the agents at the open house that you are working with 1st Home Group.

The Offer

The most stressful part of buying home is the time when you are ready to make an offer on a home. This is especially true if the home is a diamond in the rough and other buyers are making offers. We try to take some of the stress out of this stage by first calculating the best offer price by looking at comparable property sales figures, usually sales from the last six months in the same area. Once we arrive at a fair offer (or a range that we feel is fair), we vigorously negotiate the best deal for your new home. A common mistake is when buyers become emotionally attached to a prospective home and even consider offering much more than what the home is worth. This mistake is often made when the seller is receiving multiple offers and is trying to use emotion to drive up the sales price. As your independent agent with a wealth of experience, we are in a good position to prevent you from making this mistake. In our experience, there is always a better, more affordable home on the market.

In addition to negotiating the purchase price, we will negotiate other items that may be equally important: seller-provided closing cost credits, closing date, special assessments, repairs to the property, and your right to subject your offer to your own home inspection and review by your attorney.

Offer Accepted

Your home purchase is only half-complete when your offer is accepted by the seller. There are other important steps prior to your closing. First, you will normally schedule your own home inspection within a few days after the offer is accepted. We will attend this inspection with you. A home inspection will reveal any defects in the property or repairs that must be completed by the seller before you close on the home. Once your inspection is complete, a copy of the inspection is provided to your real estate attorney for review. Your attorney will negotiate any needed repairs as well as any other issues that arise from your contract. To make it easy on you, we will provide you with a list of service providers, including an attorney and home inspector, who have consistently proven themselves competent in many real estate deals.

At the same time, we will meet with you to discuss your loan with you. Once we have reviewed available loan programs and current rates, we will prepare a loan application for you to sign. We will forward your loan application and your supporting documents to the underwriter for review and continually monitor the status of your loan for you.

Pre-Closing

Immediately prior to your closing, we will accompany you to the final walk-through. The purpose of this is to make sure the property is in good condition and that all negotiated repairs have been completed prior to you closing on the home and taking possession.

Closing

At your closing, you will sign a mountain of paperwork dealing with taking title to your home and obtaining your mortgage. Your attorney will explain each document to you at your closing, which usually takes a few hours at the title company. We are available by telephone if you have issues or concerns.

Your Real Estate Consultant for Life.

Our mission is to provide you with real estate guidance that will help you save time and money when making important real estate decisions. In short, we think of ourselves as your real estate consultant for life- and we would like you to feel the same. We welcome any questions you have regarding common real estate issues, such as condo association issues, mortgage issues, and the like. We'll also let you know what your home is worth over time- just call. If you need to refinance your home for a better rate, for a different program, or just to remove mortgage insurance, we are here to help. All we ask is that you tell others about us.

As a client of ours, you will receive a quarterly bulletin called: The Advisor. Every edition will have useful articles focused on housing trends in Chicago and individual neighborhoods. Also, we will update you on important tax proposals or new laws that may impact you. Third, we will provide you with some useful guidance on your loan, such as where the mortgage rates are heading, some creative loan programs that may save you money, and answers to some of the most common loan questions that our clients have. Finally, we include any other information we think our readers may find interesting, whether or not related to real estate. Just contact us if you would like a free copy of the latest edition.
Contact the 1st Home Group

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Chicago Neighborhood Map and Facts, Rent-vs-Own Scenario

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