First Time Home Buyer
Own Your Home in 15 Steps or Less
1. Prepare
Buying a home starts well before you begin looking at properties. Taking time to understand your finances, establish a comfortable budget, and explore available financing or down-payment options can help you begin your search with realistic expectations and greater confidence.
- Financial readiness
- Comfortable budget
- Financing & down-payment options
Preapproved doesn't necessarily mean comfortably affordable your current lifestyle has to be considered as well.
2. Search
Be clear on all your current and future neeeds and requirements. Schools, accesability and work commute should be top prioroties.
- Understand the local market
- Define your must-haves versus preferences
- Begin touring homes
Common misconception, “I should wait until I find the perfect house.”
The goal isn't necessarily perfection. It's finding the property that best fits your priorities, finances, and longer-term plans.
3. Offer & Contract
Buying a home starts well before you begin looking at properties. Taking time to understand your finances, establish a comfortable budget, and explore available financing or down-payment options can help you begin your search with realistic expectations and greater confidence.
- Offer strategy (make sure you understand what you are agreeing to, and what your tolerance level for negotiation is)
- Acceptance and opeing escrow
- earnest money deposit
The highest offer isn't automatically the strongest offer. The strongest offer is the one that checks al or most of the sellers boxes.
4. Investigate & Finance
Buying a home starts well before you begin looking at properties. Taking time to understand your finances, establish a comfortable budget, and explore available financing or down-payment options can help you begin your search with realistic expectations and greater confidence.
- Inspections (please hire a reputable home inspector and fell free to reinspect items that were discovered to be faulty or require a professional look)
- appraisal/loan process
- title/insurance
An appraisal is not a home inspection. An appraisal is a professional opinion of value and not a detailed and thorough review of the home and systems condition.
5. Prepare to Close
Buying a home starts well before you begin looking at properties. Taking time to understand your finances, establish a comfortable budget, and explore available financing or down-payment options can help you begin your search with realistic expectations and greater confidence.
- Remaining negotiations/conditions ( stay on top of this to mitigate any delays to closing)
- Final walkthrough (This is the moment you can confirm that all of your conditions were met.)
- signing/funding
Signing your loan documents does not mean you own the house yet.
6. Funding the loan and Recording the title
Buying a home starts well before you begin looking at properties. Taking time to understand your finances, establish a comfortable budget, and explore available financing or down-payment options can help you begin your search with realistic expectations and greater confidence.
- Financial readiness
- Comfortable budget
- Financing & down-payment options
I signed. Can I move in now?” Not yet. Possession follows the contract and closing/recording process.