Tell me about the home you want in Long Beach or LA.
Answer four short questions and watch the count of homes that fit. When you’re done, I’ll pick out the ones I’d go see.
Question 1 of 4
Which kind of home?
Choose as many as you like, or skip this one.
Broker · DRE #01300057 · Hayden & Bach · 25+ years in California real estate
How buying a home in California goes.
In the order it happens, from our first conversation to your keys. Slava and I take you through each step.
Before the search
Step 1: Picture the life first
Who’s moving in, where you’ll drive every day, which schools matter, how much space you really use. Those answers point us to a handful of neighborhoods before we open a single listing.
Step 2: Sort out the money
Paying cash, or borrowing? With a loan, get preapproved before we start. The lender checks your income and savings and puts a number in writing, and a seller reads an offer with that letter in a different light.
Step 3: Sit down with us
A call or a coffee with Slava and me to go over your plans. California’s rules ask for a short written buyer agreement before we tour homes together, so we sign that first and you know exactly how we’ll work.
Step 4: The search
You’ll get the homes that fit, and the new ones as they’re listed, with my honest read on each price. Before you get attached to a house, we look up its fire, flood and earthquake zones.
Offer and escrow
Step 5: Seeing homes
We walk through the ones you like together. Out of town? We’ll tour them for you on a video call.
Step 6: Writing the offer
Found the one? We put the offer together with you: the price, the deposit, how many days you’ll take to check the house, and when you want to close. I read every line before it goes to the seller.
Step 7: Opening escrow
When the seller signs, your deposit typically goes into escrow within 3 business days. Escrow is the neutral company that keeps the money and the paperwork until the deal closes.
Step 8: Disclosures and inspections
Within about a week of acceptance the seller hands over what they know about the house. By default you then have 17 days to inspect it and to check that you can insure it.
Getting to closing
Step 9: Appraisal and loan approval
If you’re financing, the lender sends an appraiser and finishes underwriting. Buying with cash usually means you skip this part.
Step 10: Removing contingencies
Once the inspections, the appraisal and the loan come back fine, you sign off on your contingencies in writing. Slava and I track every deadline so none of them passes by accident.
Step 11: Final walk-through and signing
A few days before closing you see the house one last time, then sign the loan and escrow documents. Your lender has to send the final loan terms at least three business days ahead.
Step 12: Getting the keys
The county records the deed, and the house is yours. Keep an eye on your mail afterward: a supplemental property tax bill comes straight to you, not through your lender.
Questions before you start looking.
I read them myself. Then Slava or I text you to go over what you’re after and which of the homes you saw are worth a visit. Nobody asks you to sign anything at that point.
Not to take the quiz or to look around. Get preapproved before you’re ready to make offers, though. Sellers in Long Beach and LA expect the letter with an offer, and it tells you what you can really spend.
Of course. Every home in the quiz comes from Explore, Slava’s live MLS search, and you can browse it any time. When something catches your eye, send it to us and we’ll tell you what we know about it.
No, plenty of buyers start there. Skip the area question and tell me how you live: the commute, the schools, a quiet street or a walk to coffee. I’ll suggest a few areas, and the neighborhood guides on Explore help you weigh them.
No. The quiz is free and it doesn’t commit you to anything. If we end up working together, we put the terms in a short written agreement first, the way California requires.
Yes. With a first home I spend more time on the money side, so you know the real monthly cost and the cash you’ll need at closing before you fall for a house.