So, you’ve decided to buy a house, eh? Congratulations! You’ve probably been saving your pennies, doing your homework and begun peeking at the housing market to see what’s out there. But whether you’ve done your homework or not, there are a few things that you need to know that may or may not have come up during your studies. So to help you out with these tidbits of information, and get the rest of the necessities in order, here’s a list of everything you need to do (in order) to buy a house.
- Get pre-approved for a mortgage. For the absolute best rates and first-time buyer’ mortgage programs, check out your state’s link here, through the US department of Housing and Urban Development website. There are many programs here that you may never even heard of, so it’s really worth a look. Of course, you can always go to your neighborhood bank or credit union for some very competitive rates and programs.
- Find a realtor. If you have a friend or relative that has worked with a real estate agent in the past, find out how good they were. Sure, there are hundreds of websites and such out there to help you pick a realtor, but word of mouth is still the best way to truly get a feel for how they work. Inform your new realtor that you are looking for a home, so they will be a Buyer’s Agent.
- Check out the neighborhoods, schools and crime rate of a select few areas. The areas can be small towns or parts of larger towns and cities- wherever you’d like to live. If children are in your life (or in your future), it would be a bummer to have to move after you’re all settled in if you find out the school/school district is not to your standards or likings. Be sure to check out the amount of time it will take you to get to work and to get home from work (they can differ immensely).
- Determine your wants and needs in the house itself. Sit down with your realtor and make two lists- one entitled ”needs” and the other ”wants”. You may need 3 bedrooms, but you want 2 full baths. You may need a dining room large enough to put your great-grandmother’s formal mahogany dining room table and 12 chairs, but you want a family room large enough to fit a pool table.
- Look for a house You have a realtor, but you should keep an open eye or two on the current real estate listings. Your realtor will be able to schedule a time for you to go in to see a prospective house, as well as find out any imprtant details that may or may not impact your decision before you set one foot in the door. A good realtor will be looking along with you and might even find a house before it even officially goes on the market.
- Find a house-make an offer. The time will come for you to sit down with your realtor and come up with an offer to buy a house. One point that you will have in your favor is that you’re pre-approved for the financing already. This really gives you the upper hand. For example, say you put in an offer that’s $10,000 less than someone else. You’re pre-approved, but the ‘someone else” isn’t. Since you already have guaranteed financing, the seller is more apt to work with your offer than “someone else’s”.
There’s still lots that you need to do, like have a home ispection, check for lead paint if the house was built before 1978, and so on. But don’t worry about a thing, for your realtor (who gets paid commission for the home’s seller, by the way), with or without a group of transaction associates, will guide you through the rest of the home-buying process.
