|
Buying your First Home can be
exciting but there is a lot to know. Buying a home will
depend on real estate laws and customs where you are
located but there are basic steps that every first homebuyer
needs to accomplish.
Step 1- Your Finances
Establishing credit is very important especially when
you are looking to purchase a large investment like
a house. Your credit reports reflects how you manage
your finances. Study your credit report and your financial
history so you are familiar with it before applying
for a mortgage. These reports will be needed for the
mortgage approval process in finding out the interest
rate and other loan terms.
Step 2- Familiarize Yourself with the Mortgage Industry
Do your research. Finding the right loan and lender
is extremely important to your home buying success.
Choose the lender that is best for your needs but be
sure to understand the loan process as much as you can
before talking to a lender so you don’t feel completely
lost.
Step 3- get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage
Once you talk with a lender, you should be given an
estimate of how much you can afford for a house.
Being pre approved can help you in a variety of ways.
So if a home seller gets two offers, one being yours
with a pre approved letter from your bank saying you
have been approved for the amount offered, and then
there is the other person with no letter, your chances
of getting the house are much better.
Step 4- Determine what you Want and what you need
Buying a home isn’t as challenging as most think. If
you familiarize yourself with the real estate market
and narrow down what you want and need before buying
house the process will run a lot smoother.
Be sure to understand agent duties and devotion because
some real estate agents represent buyers, sellers, or
both or depending on the state they can work as neutral
facilitators for either party.
Step 6- Start Searching for your New Home
Your agent will most likely give you multiple listing
sheets to review. You might have also picked up a real
estate magazine in your area and found a house through
that, shop online, or find ads in the newspaper. Other
ideas can be driving around the neighborhoods that have
houses for sale. Either way you look, consider these
home buying search tools in your search.
Home Buying Search Tools
1. Consider houses that others may overlook
2. Get out there to see what’s out there
3. Look into public versions of multiple listing service
web sites
4. Search for real estate agent web sites
5. Browse real estate search engines and networks
6. Find for sale by owner properties
7. Look at magazine and newspapers in print
8. Find foreclosed homes
Step 7- Handle Pre-Offer Tasks
When looking at houses be sure to look at its structure
and features which can help determine if its something
you want or not.
Step 8- put in an Offer
There's no one specific set of instructions that cover
all the differences in real estate laws and customs
that exist throughout the United States, so when putting
in an offer on a house, it will depend on your location.
Step 9- House Inspections and Other Tests
Some states allow home inspections before the final
contract is signed where as in other states inspections
take place after the contract is signed. No matter when
you have to do them, it's very important to decide which
inspections and tests you want done.
Discuss with your real estate agent or if you don’t
have one, then an advisor to find out when inspections
should happen and if additional types of testing are
needed for a specific area.
Step 10- Avoid having to Correct Last Minute Problems
As the closing date approaches, everyone involved in
your real estate transaction should be checking the
progress on a daily basis. That way if a problem arises
it can be taken care of right away.
Step 11- Closing
Closing, also called settlement, is the event that transfers
ownership of the property from the last owner to you.
Happy house hunting!
About the author:
Nathan Dawson writes for http://www.marriedfinances.comand
http://www.successfulmarriageresource.com,great
online sources for marriage and finance information.
|
