This guide will put you on the right path toward filling in any gaps in your homebuying knowledge. Learn more about buying your home here!

Whether you’re a first-time or seasoned homebuyer, buying your home can be an incredibly daunting task. You aren’t sure whether to buy the first place that falls within your budget, what to include in your offer, and how to negotiate and close the deal. To help demystify the process and get the most out of your real estate transaction, let’s examine the following:

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  Aspects to consider when buying a home

  
  


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  The homebuying Process 

  
  


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  What’s next after closing?

  
  

3 Aspects to Consider When Buying Your Home

Here are 3 aspects to consider when buying your home: 

Your Financial Health

Before clicking through pages of online home listings and falling in love with your dream home, you should do a serious audit of your finances. You need to be prepared for the purchase, closing costs, and ongoing expenses of a home. Follow these steps:

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  Check Your Savings: You shouldn’t even consider buying your home before you have an emergency fund with three to six months of living expenses. That’s because when you buy a home there’ll be considerable upfront costs, such as down payment and closing costs. As such, you’ll need money to cover these costs and your emergency fund- most lenders will require it.

  
  


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  Review Your Spending: You need to know how much you’re spending each month. That’ll inform you how much you can allocate to a mortgage payment. Ensure that you account for everything- from utilities, food, student loans, clothing, savings, car maintenance and payments to any miscellaneous items.

  
  


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  Check Your Credit: To qualify for a mortgage, you’ll need a good credit score, a history of paying bills on time, and a max debt-to-income (DTI) ratio of 43%. Paying off your debt and looking for ways to generate extra income before applying for a mortgage can help improve your DTI ratio and overall credit score. 

  
  

Your Ideal Home’s Specific Features

While it’s okay to retain some flexibility in this list, you’ll be making perhaps the largest purchase of your life- you deserve to have the purchase fit your needs, tastes, and preferences. As such, your list should include basic desires, such as size and neighborhood, all the way down to smaller details like bathroom details and kitchen appliances. Your real estate agent and real estate websites can be valuable tools for researching homes that satisfy your desires and requirements for your new house.

Who’ll Guide You Through the Homebuying Process?

A real estate agent will help you find homes that meet your needs and budget and then help you view those homes. Once you’ve found your ideal home, they’ll assist you in negotiating the entire buying process, including making an attractive offer, securing a mortgage, and completing paperwork. A skilled real estate agent’s expertise will protect you from any foreseeable pitfalls that you may encounter during the process. Note that most agents receive their commission from the seller and so you don’t have to worry about any extra cost. 

The Homebuying Process

Now that you’ve decided on the aspects to consider when buying your home, let’s explore what you can expect from the homebuying process itself. 

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  Get a Mortgage Preapproval

  
  

A preapproval letter is a written estimate from your mortgage lender of how much you’ll likely be able to borrow. The letter can help you determine how much you can afford and demonstrate that you can secure a mortgage when you’re ready to make an offer on a home. The preapproval application for a mortgage usually requires submitting bank statements, pay stubs, tax returns, and other financial documents.

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  Find a Home

  
  

Viewing online listing photos shouldn’t substitute visiting homes in person and getting to know the area and its amenities. So, ensure that you let your real estate agent know the specific kinds of homes you want to see. Your agent will create your profile in the local multiple listing service (MLS) and set up automatic searches for those that meet your criteria. They’ll also accompany you during open houses or private showings to ensure you find your ideal home. 

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  Make an Offer

  
  

Once you’ve found “the one,” your real estate agent will help you prepare a complete offer package, including your offer price, preapproval letter, proof of funds for a down payment, and contingencies, including appraisal and inspection contingencies. The seller may counteroffer on your price and contingencies- you can respond to the counteroffer or reject it and move on. If the offer is accepted, you’ll sign a purchase agreement that entails the price of the home and the estimated closing date. 

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  Close on Your Home

  
  

Once all contingencies are met, you’re okay with the final walk-through, and the closing agent gives the green light, it’s time to make it official and close on your home. Note that you’ll have to cover closing costs, including home inspection and appraisal fees, home insurance and title insurance fees, loan origination fees, and escrow fees among others. 

Congrats, New Homeowner! What’s Next?

You’ve signed closing papers, paid movers, and the new house is starting to feel like home. Game over, right? Not quite! Let’s examine some final tips to make life as a new homeowner more secure.

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  Keep Saving: Homeownership typically comes with major unexpected expenses, such as getting a new water heater or replacing rain gutters. So, start an emergency fund for your new home so that you won’t be caught off-guard when these expenses inevitably rise. 

  
  


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  Perform Regular Maintenance: With the large amount of money you’ll be putting into your home, you’ll want to ensure that you take excellent care of it. Regular maintenance can lower your repair expenses by ensuring issues are fixed when they’re small and manageable. 

  
  

Need Help Buying Your Home? Call Us!

Buying your home is an exciting and emotional process. But before starting your home search, it’s paramount that you have a seasoned real estate agent by your side. That’ll empower you to make decisions that are best for you, your family, and your wallet. Our real estate agents will save you time and money by helping you find your dream home and by negotiating with the seller on your behalf. Call us and let’s help you buy your dream home!