How We Help You Buy

Handing a buyer a listing plan teaches them nothing about what actually happens to them, so this page runs the buying side on its own terms and in its own order.

Four steps. Ready, which is money and is always first. Educated, which is what your budget genuinely buys in this market rather than what you hope it buys. Aligned, which is representation made explicit in writing so you know exactly what I do and how I am paid. Locked, which is the offer and everything that happens between acceptance and keys.

The order matters for the same reason it does on the selling side. The most expensive version of buying a house is falling in love with one before you know what you can carry, because every decision after that gets made under pressure you created yourself.

Everything below describes buying in Arizona, on the Arizona Association of Realtors contract, closing through a title and escrow company. It is a description of how the work is done, not legal, tax or lending advice.

Once the budget is real, the next job is calibrating it against the market rather than against what you remember prices being. These are ARMLS medians for August 2026, pulled 2026-10-01, filtered by city:

• Chandler. Median sale price $524,950. About 3.03 months of supply, the tightest of the three core cities, and half of homes under contract within 48 days.
• Gilbert. Median sale price $578,000, the only one of the three core cities still appreciating. About 3.54 months of supply, with the average time to a contract out at 79 days.
• Scottsdale. Median sale price $950,000, and an average of 105 days on market. A different price tier and a slower decision.

Those three profiles mean the same budget behaves differently depending on where you point it. In Chandler you have less to choose from and more room on price. In Scottsdale you have more time to decide and a bigger number to finance. Knowing which trade you are making is most of what separates a calm search from a frustrating one.

This step is also where the non-price facts get checked, because they cost real money later. HOA terms and what they actually cover. Which school district the specific address sits in, since district lines do not follow city limits here. What is nearby, what the commute genuinely looks like, what the lot does in July. I will tell you what I know and I will tell you plainly when something needs verifying rather than filling the gap with a guess.

When the right house shows up, this is what happens and roughly in what order.

1. The offer. Built from comparable sales and from what we know about the seller's position, not from a percentage off the asking price. Terms get as much attention as the number.
2. Acceptance and earnest money. Your earnest money goes to the title and escrow company, commonly around 1% of the purchase price. It is credited back to you at closing.
3. The inspection period. Ten days from acceptance. You inspect, and anything you want addressed goes to the seller on the Buyer's Inspection Notice and Seller Response, the BINSR. They respond on the same form. This is your window to renegotiate or to walk, and it runs on a clock.
4. Appraisal and loan. Your lender orders the appraisal. If it comes in under the contract price there are real options, and we work through them with the numbers rather than in a panic.
5. Title and escrow. The title company clears title, prepares the settlement statement and coordinates signing. There is no attorney settlement table in Arizona and you sign separately from the seller.
6. Final walkthrough, then close of escrow. Recording, then funding, then keys. Not before funding, however tempting.

Transaction coordination runs through Transactly, so the deadlines sit with someone whose whole job is deadlines. You will know where your deal stands without having to ask.