Find Your Perfect Home: Guide for Real Estate Buyers
Most homebuyers hire a real estate agent to help them find their dream home. Without an agent, in the time it takes you to find and buy a home, you’d have to learn and put into practice a special set of skills real estate professionals spend years honing. This includes finding a home suitable for your financial needs, negotiating and closing the deal. Ultimately, you can expect your our agents to guide and assist you through this home-buying adventure. We will help you avoid potential pitfalls, and in the end, hand you the keys to your new home. Here’s a quick guide that can help you through each step of the process to buy home, from first thinking about buying a home to closing the deal.
01
Check Your Credit Score
Even before you start the home buying process or to buy home, check your own credit. Make sure you use an actual FICO score, as this is what most lenders see. Doing this first will give you plenty of time to work on your credit score if necessary. A small increase can make a big difference in the long run such as paying of small debts.
02
Budget
It’s possible to obtain a mortgage whose payment makes your total monthly debts 45% of your pre-tax income. Depending on your tax bracket, 45% of your pre-tax income could be almost all of your after-tax income, and this doesn’t leave much for anything else.
03
Mortgage Options
There are different kind of Mortgage option: Conventional loans are the most common, and they require a 3% to 20% down payment. Remember that many loan issuers will require you to pay private mortgage insurance if you fail to provide a 20% down payment. There are also FHA loans with low down payment requirements and easier credit standards than conventional loans, VA loans for qualified current and former military personnel.
04
Down Payment/Closing Options
After deciding type of mortgage, next step is to figure out when your down payment is going to come from. Some types of mortgages allow some or all of the down payment to come from a gift, while others are more restrictive. In addition, plan on spending in the range of 1%-3% of the home’s price for closing costs. Additionally, many lenders want to see that you have enough money in reserves to cover your mortgage payments for a few months.
05
Down Payment Assistance
Check Your Eligibility
Welcome to the Down Payment Resource Center provided by Team Kartel. Tell us where you’re looking and answer a few questions about your household and see how many programs may match your circumstances.06
Preparation
When applying for mortgage, the lender will ask you for multiple documents. At minimum you will need the following.
- Income verification/employment Last two years’ tax returns, W-2s, 1099s, and your last few pay stubs
- Credit/ID — Drivers’ license and/ or Social Security card
- Financial condition — Bank and brokerage account statements including retirement accounts, proof of funds to close.
Additionally, the lender may ask for more documents.
07
Pre-Approval
A pre-approval is the same thing as applying for a mortgage, just without a specific home in mind. In order to obtain a pre-approval, a lender needs to check your credit, verify your income and employment status. Keep in mind that this is different from a pre-qualification, which is based on unverified information you provide and won’t carry nearly as much weight when shopping for a home. A pre-approval is a commitment to lend you money and makes you look like a much more serious buyer.
08
Real Estate Agent
You can buy a home without a real estate agent but there are a few reasons not to do so. First, the real estate agent will do all of the research, contracts, and other time-consuming parts of the home buying process , preventing your home search from turning into a full-time job. Additionally, a good real estate agent will have an extensive knowledge of the local market and can guide you through the entire process from looking at houses to closing the deal.
09
Home Search
This can be stressful as well as fun. Once you’ve narrowed it down to the neighborhoods you like, the best advice I can give is to make a list of what you have to have and things you simply want. Walk away from properties that don’t have the things on your must-have list, but it is silly to lose an otherwise perfect home for easily fixable cosmetic issues.
10
Offer
When it comes to offers, it’s important to appear to be a serious buyer, while still trying to get the best deal possible. As mentioned before, this is something your real estate professional can help you with, as there are a lot of variables that go into making an offer. Is the home overpriced or priced correctly? Is your local market a buyer’s market or seller’s market? And how long has the home been sitting on the market?
11
Closing
After the seller accepts your offer, you generally have a short inspection period during which you have the option to hire a professional to do a thorough inspection of the property. However, the inspection is a must-do. The last thing you want is to move into a house only to find out that the home has structural issues or that the entire electrical system isn’t up to code and is unsafe. After the contracts are signed, you’ll still have a month or more to wait before you actually get the keys. This can be a stressful time, but as long as you follow your mortgage processor’s instructions in a timely manner, the finish line should be within reach.