California buyer walk-through script

Before we tour a single house, let's get you with a lender. You'll know your real budget, and your offer won't be taken seriously without it.

Pre-qualification vs. pre-approval: Pre-qualification is an estimate — you tell the lender your income and debts, they ballpark a number. Pre-approval is the real thing — the lender verifies your income, assets, and credit and issues a letter. In California, sellers expect a pre-approval letter (or proof of funds if you’re paying cash) attached to your offer. No letter, no seat at the table.

The money pieces: Down payment — what you put in up front. PMI — if you put less than 20% down on a conventional loan, the lender adds monthly insurance that protects them, not you; it falls off once you build equity. DTI (debt-to-income) — the single biggest lever on how much they’ll lend. Rate lock — once under contract, the lender can freeze your rate so a market jump doesn’t change your payment before closing.

Which loan: Common programs — conventional, FHA (lower down payment), VA (veterans, often zero down), USDA (rural), CalHFA (California first-time buyer help), and jumbo (loans above the conforming limit — common in the Bay Area). We match you to one before you shop.

When you buy a home you’re buying two things: the building and the title — the legal ownership and the bundle of rights that come with the land. Title is where we find out if anyone else has a claim or a right on your property.

Survey & boundaries: A survey shows the exact corners and footprint of the property — where your land actually starts and stops, and the legal description that matches the deed. It can flag whether a fence, driveway, or structure crosses a line.

CC&Rs — the rulebook on the land: Some properties — especially in HOAs and planned communities — come with CC&Rs: recorded covenants and restrictions that run with the land. Paint colors, what you can build, where you can park. They bind you whether or not you like them, so we read them before you commit.

The Preliminary Title Report: Early in escrow you’ll get a Preliminary Title Report. Two halves: Schedule A is the good news — who owns it now and what you’re getting. Schedule B is the list of exceptions — the easements, the CC&Rs, any liens or claims that stay attached. Schedule B is the part we read carefully together.

Title insurance: Title insurance protects you if a claim against your ownership shows up later — a missed lien, an unknown heir, a forged old deed. You buy an owner’s policy once, at closing, to protect your equity. Separately, your lender requires its own lender’s policy to protect the loan amount — not optional if you’re financing. Two policies, two jobs.

This is where California — and especially San Francisco — works differently from much of the country.

The San Francisco custom: Something cool about San Francisco, and a few nearby markets — different from most of the U.S. Here, the seller usually hires a professional inspector before the home is listed. That inspector walks the whole house — electrical, plumbing, foundation, roof — and writes a report. So when you make your offer, you already have the details from that report. There shouldn’t be surprises, unless something genuinely new comes up.

Why that’s better — the double-negotiation problem: Most of the U.S.: you get under contract first — say you agree to buy for a million dollars — then you hire your own inspector. He comes back: “there’s $50,000 of work here — the foundation, a cracked window.” So you turn around to the seller: “I know I said a million, but now I want to pay 950.” You’ve negotiated twice. San Francisco basically said: we don’t want to play that game. Get the report out front, price it in once, done.

It cuts both ways: It helps the seller too. If their pre-listing inspection turns up a real problem, they can price the home accordingly from day one instead of getting beat up in a renegotiation later.

You can still get your own: Getting the seller’s report doesn’t mean you’re stuck with it. You can always order your own inspection — totally optional — if you’d rather have your own person walk through. Many SF buyers rely on the seller’s package; if you don’t, you bring your own inspector.

What inspections cover (statewide): Beyond the general home inspection, depending on the property we may bring in specialists: pest / wood-destroying organisms (WDO), roof, sewer lateral, chimney, foundation/structural, pool/spa. Each is a different expert looking at a different system.

The disclosure package (statewide): Separate from inspections, California law makes the seller disclose what they know. TDS (Transfer Disclosure Statement) — the seller’s statement on condition and known problems. SPQ (Seller Property Questionnaire) — a deeper questionnaire: past repairs, insurance claims, neighbor disputes, unpermitted work. NHD (Natural Hazard Disclosure) — whether the home sits in a flood, fire, earthquake-fault, or other mapped hazard zone. They carry legal weight.

Repair requests: If the reports turn up real issues, we don’t just eat them. We can ask the seller to fix items, credit you money, or adjust the price. If we can’t agree and you’re still inside your inspection window, you can walk with your deposit.