First Steps 👣 For Future HomeOwners

The thought of buying a home has crossed your mind. You aren't looking to spend thousands of dollars tomorrow or even start packing, but you know for a fact that you want to finally have your own place in the next year or so.

That's a huge step in your life that you're probably really excited/a little nervous about. 

Fantastic, sooo... now what?  

I have gone through this experience myself (along with helping other first time home buyers - it's my job). The advice I have given my friends is the same advice I have taken myself and the same advice I've shared along this blog with you.

These are the first things you should do if you're thinking you want to buy a house.  They might seem simple, but doing them in this order will make the whole process about 20x smoother for you.

Talk to a Mortgage Lender

I know, I know.  Everyone you talk to says, “you need to talk to a lender” and the thought of calling up a bank and saying “I want to buy a house, what do I do?” is a little nerve-wrecking. You’ll have to get transparent with them about the financial part of your life so they can help give you a realistic idea of what you can afford.

I suggest this being the absolute first step if you want answers to these questions:

How much do I need to put down?

What programs are available for down payment assistance and do I qualify?

Which type of loan should I look into and do I meet the qualifications? 

How much would a house cost me if I wanted to pay around $____ a month on a mortgage (instead of rent)?

The best part is if your credit or other financial areas need work they can give you a game plan for how to eventually be in the best financial position to buy. Now, not all lenders may do that, but we can easily recommend someone to you.

It’s as easy as a 10-minute phone call and after they review everything with you, you get a better peace of mind on eventually making this type of purchase. 

💰 Need a recommendation on a lender? Contact Us and we'll help connect you with someone local.

Figure Out What You Want

This sections is kind of like, the more knowledge the better.  It’s basically like sitting down and making a list of all the stuff you want in your house (most people love this step).  Try to keep it in your budget though.  If your budget is $150k and you want 14 bedrooms……think again.

Figure out where you want to live.  You may be thinking, “that’s your job.”  Nope.  There are a lot of places out there in the world, and we might not agree on the "coolest" of them.  So, I would recommend driving around, going in neighborhoods, mapping out where the best spots to hangout are, schools you want your kids to go to, etc.  Might want to stay away from limiting yourself too much though.  If you only want one neighborhood and it has 14 houses total in it, there might be some delay in getting you one of those houses.  Planning out where you want will help your agent find some houses in those areas.

Figure out what you want.  Do you want 2 beds? 3 beds?  A porch?  Open floor plan?  Sometimes you have no clue until you look in some houses and see what you love and what you hate.  That's ok!  So having as much knowledge as possible about this is key, but you don’t have to know everything right off the bat.

Talk to a Buyer's Agent

You’re probably feeling the same way you did about the lender earlier, and I get it.  But, wait! More GOOD NEWS is that the good agents aren’t trying to pressure you into doing something you don’t want to do.  They’re just trying to teach you about the process and how things work, because nobody teaches you this stuff in school.  If you decide it’s your time to buy a house, great!  Let’s get to work getting you in a house.  If not, great!  We can work together to see what’s the best option for you.  Maybe you just need help making a plan for when you want to buy in the future, and that's awesome!  Let's do it together.

We've recorded a whole video series on what a Buyer's Agent is and the advantages, so if you’re totally lost right now, go here.

Client Win

First time home buyer, McCrea, found a home in the neighborhood she wanted and at the price she wanted during a competitive season in Real Estate. 

How? She met with real estate advisor from our team and he connected her with a house that wasn't even on Zillow yet.