Buying your First Home
Buying your first home can be exciting but there is a lot
to know. Buying a home will depend on real estate laws and
customs where you are located but there are basic steps
that every first homebuyer needs to accomplish.
Step 1- Your Finances
Establishing credit is very important especially when you
are looking to purchase a large investment like a house.
Your credit reports reflects how you manage your finances.
Study your credit report and your financial history so you
are familiar with it before applying for a mortgage. These
reports will be needed for the mortgage approval process
in finding out the interest rate and other loan terms.
Step 2- Familiarize Yourself with the Mortgage Industry
Do your research. Finding the right loan and lender is extremely
important to your home buying success.
Choose the lender that is best for your needs but be sure
to understand the loan process as much as you can before
talking to a lender so you don’t feel completely lost.
Step 3- get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage
Once you talk with a lender, you should be given an estimate
of how much you can afford for a house.
Being pre approved can help you in a variety of ways. So
if a home seller gets two offers, one being yours with a
pre approved letter from your bank saying you have been
approved for the amount offered, and then there is the other
person with no letter, your chances of getting the house
are much better.
Step 4- Determine what you Want and what you need
Buying a home isn’t as challenging as most think.
If you familiarize yourself with the real estate market
and narrow down what you want and need before buying house
the process will run a lot smoother.
Be sure to understand agent duties and devotion because
some real estate agents represent buyers, sellers, or both
or depending on the state they can work as neutral facilitators
for either party.
Step 6- Start Searching for your New Home
Your agent will most likely give you multiple listing sheets
to review. You might have also picked up a real estate magazine
in your area and found a house through that, shop online,
or find ads in the newspaper. Other ideas can be driving
around the neighborhoods that have houses for sale. Either
way you look, consider these home buying search tools in
your search.
Home Buying Search Tools
1. Consider houses that others may overlook
2. Get out there to see what’s out there
3. Look into public versions of multiple listing service
web sites
4. Search for real estate agent web sites
5. Browse real estate search engines and networks
6. Find for sale by owner properties
7. Look at magazine and newspapers in print
8. Find foreclosed homes
Step 7- Handle Pre-Offer Tasks
When looking at houses be sure to look at its structure
and features which can help determine if its something you
want or not.
Step 8- put in an Offer
There's no one specific set of instructions that cover
all the differences in real estate laws and customs that
exist throughout the United States, so when putting in an
offer on a house, it will depend on your location.
Step 9- House Inspections and Other Tests
Some states allow home inspections before the final contract
is signed where as in other states inspections take place
after the contract is signed. No matter when you have to
do them, it's very important to decide which inspections
and tests you want done.
Discuss with your real estate agent or if you don’t
have one, then an advisor to find out when inspections should
happen and if additional types of testing are needed for
a specific area.
Step 10- Avoid having to Correct Last Minute Problems
As the closing date approaches, everyone involved in your
real estate transaction should be checking the progress
on a daily basis. That way if a problem arises it can be
taken care of right away.
Step 11- Closing
Closing, also called settlement, is the event that transfers
ownership of the property from the last owner to you.
Happy house hunting!
