With spring just around the corner and mortage interest rates low, you may be considering taking the plunge and buying your first home! How exciting! While this is a huge milestone, you do not have to go about this alone. As you begin to look for your first home, you will be surrounded by a team of experts to help you along the way! This will include a Real Estate Agent, a Mortgage Advisor, and a Closing Company at the very least. For now, Cork Valley Properties is here to help with a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the home buying process. Keep reading to learn more!
1. How do I financially know that I am ready to buy a house instead of renting?
This is a great first question to ask yourself to see if you are ready to take the next step into home buying. Do an inventory of your monthly expenses. Are you able to save a bit in addition to your monthly rent payment? Keep in mind, as a home owner you have maintenance and upkeep expenses for your property. Once you speak with a mortgage professional, they will be able to guide you into how much money you will need to put as a down payment. Double check that you have enough in your savings to cover that amount as well.
2. How do I know what I can afford?
Chat with a mortgage professional! They will be able to take a look at many data points such as your income, and credit score to calculate the amount that you are pre-qualified for. This would be your maximum budget that you can work from. Keep in mind, this does not calculate your other expenses into account, so don’t stretch yourself too thin while looking for homes. Realtor Tip from Kaity: Have that pre-qualification letter handy to give to your Real Estate Agent when at showings and presenting an offer. This can strengthen your offer and show how serious and prepared you are for the process!
3. How do I find a mortgage professional?
We’ve been mentioning a lot about a mortgage professional, but how do you find one? There are many different types of lenders: banks, credit unions, private mortgage lenders, etc. Buying a home (and a mortgage) is a huge purchase, so take your time in shopping around for the best mortgage professional. Ask your family and friends if they have any recommendations. You can also ask your Real Estate Agent if they have anyone that they recommend. They will be communicating a lot with the lender so may have some insight as to who is effiencient to work with.
4. Okay, so how do I find a good Real Estate Agent?
Your Real Estate Agent will be with you every step of the way, and be the captain of the team making sure that the entire process is running smoothly and on schedule. With that, you want to choose wisely! Ask any family or friends who have purchased a house recently if they have any recommendations. If no one you know has recently bought a home, check out local brokerages to the neighborhood you wish to buy in and read through reviews. Take the time to ‘interview’ everyone you speak with until you find your match!
5. How do I stay organized during the home buying process?
There is a lot of information flying about between lender communication, juggling which houses you’ve seen, and simply keeping track of what you like and don’t like about different properties. Here are a couple of suggestions we have for staying sane during the home buying process.
- Create a new email account for all of the incoming communications. This will allow you to organize emails coming from each direction about your transaction. This will help so that you don’t miss any important requests from your lender or agent. PS – Gmail accounts are free!
- Create a spreadsheet for the homes you are touring. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just include important information such as number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square feet and a column for pros and one for cons. You can reflect on this after touring each property to keep everything straight.