 Most of us only buy a home once, maybe two or three times in our lifetime. So it's important as property and finance experts that we help our customers along this journey and make sure they fully understand the steps that are involved when going through this home buying process. In the case of a bond, there are a few steps that take place that customers need to be aware of when applying for the home loan. The first is a credit assessment. This is after you've submitted your application to the banks together with your supporting documents. A credit assessor will run a full credit review of your income and expenses to determine whether you can afford the bond or not. The next step in the process is for the property to be valued. So usually a physical assessor will go out to the property to value it. If there is enough information about the property, then an automated or desktop valuation is used to value whether the property is good security for lending. The next step in the bond application process is where your final quote gets issued to you. This is where you have an opportunity to interrogate all the terms and conditions associated with the quote. You have an opportunity to ask questions, interrogate some information that you might not be clear about and thereafter you are able to make an informed decision as to whether you accept the offer on the table. Lastly, which is the lengthiest step, is the attorney and registration of the bond. This can usually take anywhere between two to three months and depending on the type of bond, sometimes up to a year. So be prepared to make sure that you are kept up to speed with every single step throughout this process. The attorneys will ask you to sign some documents. They will then also ask you to pay all the costs that have been associated with the bond and property transfer.