Buying Your First Home in 10 Straight Forward Steps
Owning a home is a huge life decision and opportunity.
Owning a home brings with it great responsibility as another institution will count on a borrower to keep their word and make their payments.
More often than not, a home is the most expensive thing a person will buy or own in their life.
The process of owning a home is complex and takes experience.
Here are ten guiding principles to help anyone from the first idea to closing on a home.
The first thing any home buyer should do is prepare themselves.
Figure out the personal finances and credit.
Decide what exactly they will be shopping for from the state, city, neighborhood, location, size, cost, look, etc.
The very second thing a buyer needs to do is shop around and find a realtor.
Buying a home is an extremely complicated process and since many home buyers are first time buyers and have little experience, with few exceptions, hiring a realtor who has ample professional experience behind them is a wise direction to take.
The third thing a buyer should do is go to a mortgage broker, or a lending institution and get what pre-approved for a loan.
The worst thing a buyer can do is waste their realtor and sellers time by making an offer on a home they will be rejected at the crucial moment.
Pre-approval will tell the buyer, realtor, and seller exactly how much the buyer is able to be financed for given the financers understanding of the buyers situation.
The fourth thing a buyer needs to do is get out and visually see different homes.
Even though the first step is to prepare for home ownership, as the buyer gets real hands on experience the tastes and understanding of what they need often times change.
After making a plan, getting a realtor, getting pre-approved, and shopping around, the buyer needs to make a decision on the perfect home for them, the home they want to invest years of their life into.
The fifth principle is to make an offer.
Once the home is decided on the buyer needs to work side by side with their real estate agent and do one of three things: Accept the offer the seller is offering, reject the offer, or make a counter offer.
Offers will vary according to the market for prices and financing.
If a market for home prices is growing quickly then the funding will be easier and a counter offer will probably fail.
If the market is decreasing then the financing or funding may be more difficult and counter offers will more readily be accepted.
Homes often deteriorate over time and need to be fixed up or repaired by the seller.
Informal walks though will often times miss the many defects.
The seventh thing that needs to be accomplished is to have a professional inspector or contractor inspect the home for the many structural problems that need to be fixed by the seller.
The eighth thing that needs to be taken care of is to secure insurance.
Insurance is a vital part of the home buying process.
Insurance allows the lender to know that the collateral of the loan will not disappear overnight in a fire.
The ninth principle is to close.
Closing brings many costs that most often times will be footed by the buyer.
The closing costs will be anywhere from three to eight percent of the entire home.
After the home is closed on, the buyer effectively owns the home.
From that point on it is prudent to repair as you go and to always make the payments on the loan.
Defaulting on the loan will be a life damaging event.
Owning a home brings with it great responsibility as another institution will count on a borrower to keep their word and make their payments.
More often than not, a home is the most expensive thing a person will buy or own in their life.
The process of owning a home is complex and takes experience.
Here are ten guiding principles to help anyone from the first idea to closing on a home.
The first thing any home buyer should do is prepare themselves.
Figure out the personal finances and credit.
Decide what exactly they will be shopping for from the state, city, neighborhood, location, size, cost, look, etc.
The very second thing a buyer needs to do is shop around and find a realtor.
Buying a home is an extremely complicated process and since many home buyers are first time buyers and have little experience, with few exceptions, hiring a realtor who has ample professional experience behind them is a wise direction to take.
The third thing a buyer should do is go to a mortgage broker, or a lending institution and get what pre-approved for a loan.
The worst thing a buyer can do is waste their realtor and sellers time by making an offer on a home they will be rejected at the crucial moment.
Pre-approval will tell the buyer, realtor, and seller exactly how much the buyer is able to be financed for given the financers understanding of the buyers situation.
The fourth thing a buyer needs to do is get out and visually see different homes.
Even though the first step is to prepare for home ownership, as the buyer gets real hands on experience the tastes and understanding of what they need often times change.
After making a plan, getting a realtor, getting pre-approved, and shopping around, the buyer needs to make a decision on the perfect home for them, the home they want to invest years of their life into.
The fifth principle is to make an offer.
Once the home is decided on the buyer needs to work side by side with their real estate agent and do one of three things: Accept the offer the seller is offering, reject the offer, or make a counter offer.
Offers will vary according to the market for prices and financing.
If a market for home prices is growing quickly then the funding will be easier and a counter offer will probably fail.
If the market is decreasing then the financing or funding may be more difficult and counter offers will more readily be accepted.
Homes often deteriorate over time and need to be fixed up or repaired by the seller.
Informal walks though will often times miss the many defects.
The seventh thing that needs to be accomplished is to have a professional inspector or contractor inspect the home for the many structural problems that need to be fixed by the seller.
The eighth thing that needs to be taken care of is to secure insurance.
Insurance is a vital part of the home buying process.
Insurance allows the lender to know that the collateral of the loan will not disappear overnight in a fire.
The ninth principle is to close.
Closing brings many costs that most often times will be footed by the buyer.
The closing costs will be anywhere from three to eight percent of the entire home.
After the home is closed on, the buyer effectively owns the home.
From that point on it is prudent to repair as you go and to always make the payments on the loan.
Defaulting on the loan will be a life damaging event.
