First-time buyers: the whole process, in order

Before you look at a single home

Three pieces of paper come first, and none of them is a purchase. The first is the agency disclosure, which explains who represents whom. It is a disclosure of duties, not a hiring form. The second is the buyer-broker agreement. The form itself says every REALTOR needs a signed written agreement before showing a home, and it sets my fee as a fixed amount or rate we agree on, not a number set by any law or board. If the seller pays part of that fee, it is a credit against what you owe, not money on top. The third is the state’s Buyer Advisory, thirteen pages on what to read, what to inspect and what to check in the surrounding area. Read it. It is the closest thing Arizona has to an owner’s manual for buying a house.

Then talk to a lender. Which lender is your call, and I stay out of it. What I need from that conversation is the AAR Pre-Qualification Form, because it goes in with your offer. It tells the seller your loan type, whether you are counting on seller help with costs, and whether the lender actually talked with you and pulled credit. Sellers read it. A form where the lender never spoke with you is the weakest page in the offer.

The search, and the one rule about first visits

We build your list around price, commute and the kind of house you want. Not the kind of neighbor. Fair Housing is the law, and it is also the right way to do this. One rule matters more than people expect: I go with you on the first visit to every home, including builder models and open houses. The buyer-broker form says that if I am not there for that first visit, the builder or seller can refuse to pay my fee, and the credit you were counting on disappears. Text me before you walk into a model. It takes two minutes.

While you tour, assume the house is listening. The Buyer Advisory warns that a home may have audio or video recording and tells you not to discuss price or what you love while you are inside. Save it for the driveway. And do not expect a good house to wait a month while you think. In Mesa and Tempe, the typical detached home that sold in mid-September found its buyer in about 47 days (Cromford Report / ARMLS, data 9/15/26, analysis mine).

Writing the offer

The Arizona resale contract is ten pages. Before you sign it, you get a one-page Buyer Attachment that AAR wants every buyer to read first. It is a checklist, not part of the contract. The offer itself sets the price, your earnest money (your deposit, usually held by the escrow company), the closing date, the inspection period (ten days unless we write in a different number), who pays for the appraisal, whether you want a home warranty and who pays for it, and whether you are asking the seller for concessions toward your costs. If we want the seller to pay my fee directly, that is a separate one-page addendum, and it stacks on top of any concessions.

Your offer expires at the date and time we write in, and you can withdraw it any time before the seller’s signed acceptance reaches me. A phone call saying yes is not acceptance. The contract is accepted when the signed paperwork, plus any counter offer, is delivered to and received by the broker. That day starts every clock below.

The first ten days

Here is the calendar, in calendar days counted from acceptance:

1. Upon acceptance: deposit your earnest money with escrow.
2. Within 3 days: you make your loan application. The seller delivers the Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement (the SPDS, nine pages of what the seller knows) and a notice of anything leased, like solar or a water softener, because leased items do not come with the house.
3. Within 5 days: the seller delivers a five-year insurance claims history.
4. Within 10 days: you deliver the Loan Status Update, a lender-completed form that tells the seller where your loan stands.
5. Within 10 days: the inspection period ends.

The inspection period is the big one. Get a general inspection, and in this climate plan on roof, AC and termite looks too. The Advisory says a roof ten years or older deserves a licensed roofing contractor, and your general inspector may skip the pool. Confirm you can get insurance on the house during this window as well; the Buyer Attachment lists it as an inspection-period task. Separately, you get five days after receiving the SPDS, the claims history, the title commitment and any HOA package to object to each in writing.

One list, one shot

Everything you want fixed goes into a single written notice, the BINSR, delivered before the inspection period ends. You cannot add to it later, and you cannot change your election once it is delivered. The form gives you three choices: accept the house as it is, cancel immediately, or give the seller a chance to fix or credit the items. The seller then has five days to answer in writing, and silence counts as no. If the seller declines, you have five days to cancel and take your earnest money back, or close without those items. A phone conversation extends nothing. Only a signed writing moves a deadline.

Two fine points. Agreed repairs of $1,000 or more, or anything that needs a permit, are supposed to be done by a licensed contractor; the form cites the statute. And if the seller offers a credit instead of a repair, that addendum has to go to your lender, who may limit total credits.

Appraisal, loan approval, and the last three days

Your lender orders the appraisal. If it comes in under the price, you have five days after you are told to cancel with your earnest money back. Say nothing for five days and you have waived the contingency; the gap is yours. There is no “split the difference” box on that notice. A price change takes a counter or addendum signed by both sides.

Three full days before closing (the contract means three full days, so a Friday closing means by 11:59 p.m. Monday) you need loan approval without prior-to-document conditions, or you deliver a written notice that you could not get it. Deliver that notice and your earnest money comes back. Skip it and the seller can keep the deposit as their damages. The seller’s agreed repairs are due the same day, with paid receipts.

Then walk the house. You have the right to a pre-closing walkthrough to confirm the repairs are done and the home is substantially as it was at acceptance, and the seller has to keep the utilities on for it. Waive the walkthrough and you release the seller and the brokers for anything it would have caught.

Closing is recording, and one warning

In Arizona, close of escrow is the moment the deed records at the county recorder, not the moment you sign. You sign a day or two ahead, the loan funds, and then you get the call. Before you send a dollar toward closing: the AAR Wire Fraud Advisory says never trust wiring instructions that arrive by email. Call your escrow officer at a number you got in person or from a verified source, never the number in the email. Money wired to a fraudster usually cannot be recovered, and the Advisory says there is generally no insurance for it.

What I will do

I am an Associate Broker with Keller Williams Integrity First Realty in Gilbert, with more than 500 closed transactions, and a former brokerage owner and Designated Broker, the license that answers for every contract in an office. For a first purchase, my job is to put every one of these dates on a written critical date list, explain each form before you sign it, and tell you plainly when to push and when to walk.

Want the first-time buyer cost sheet for your price range, or fifteen minutes to talk it through? Text or call (602) 610-3172, or email ryan@ryanharju.com.