A Step by Step Guide to Buying your First Home

If you’ve never bought a home before, you might not know what steps to take or what steps there are. We want to make this as easy as possible for you by listing out what steps you should take, and in what order, so that you can have the smoothest possible home buying experience. This is the complete New Home Buyer Guide, which provides even more detail to get you started.

1. Meet with a Real Estate Professional 

The sooner you meet with a real estate professional, the sooner we’ll be able to help you find your dream home and answer your questions about home buying. We’ll talk about home style, price, location and more. I’ll also be available for your questions throughout the process. Why not have an experienced individual by your side instead of doing this on your own! For more information on why you should work with a real estate profession, check out this article: Why Team With A Real Estate Professional to Sell Your House.

2. Get Pre-Approved 

Knowing how much house you can afford is critical to the home buying process. You don’t want to overestimate your budget and then be disappointed, or sell yourself short of a more desirable home. To get pre-approved, you’ll need documents such as pay stubs, W2s, and bank statements for each person whose name will be on the mortgage. Your realtor will help you determine other documents that might help you in the process. We’ll also provide a timeline for when get pre-approved. 

3. Search for Homes 

This is the fun part! Your real estate agent will send you listings to search through and take you to showings so that you can explore until you find the home of your dreams. Not all real estate sites are the same! Your agent should be able to dig into advanced searches to help you find homes that may not be listed publicly yet. This goes back to the importance of working with an agent. Often, we can widen the search. 

4. Make an Offer

Your agent will prepare an offer based on the price and terms you select. Don’t worry, this is something we’ll discuss and will offer guidance on based on my experience.

5. Negotiations and contract

This might take a few tries, but don’t worry, your agent will stay with you the whole way. In most cases the contract provides you with a timeline to obtain financing, as well as inspect the physical conduction of the home. Your real estate professional will inform you of all of your rights and responsibilities related to the contract. 

6. In Escrow 

This means that you and the seller have agreed on price and terms and the home is being held for you until closing. Typically, this requires a monetary good faith deposit. Your deposit will be kept in an escrow account which holds both parties accountable to close on the property. The buyer will want to be sure of their purchase, because if the buyer backs out, this money goes to the seller. If the seller backs out, the buyer gets their money back, or if they will be credited it at closing. 

7. Final Details 

Perform due diligence. This means order the appraisal, conduct inspection, and go over terms with the lender. As you prepare for closing you will be finalizing the details of your loan and discussing findings from the inspection. Your real estate agent will be managing this entire process for you. 

8. Closing 

This is the moment you’ve been waiting for! More technically, this is the transfer of funds and ownership. A title company or an attorney typically is present to facilitate a third party. This is where you get the keys, and go home. 

Congratulations! If you’ve made it through all these steps, you’re a homeowner! If you’re ready to go through these steps, let’s get started together. Reach out to Austin Moyer Team at Coldwell Banker Custom Realty here, or call 585-505-7012. We look forward to making your home ownership dreams come true!