BUYING YOUR DREAM HOME
Simplified
Download your FREE comprehensive buyer’s guide. This will give you a step by step walk through of buying a home.
Things to Know Before You Start Your Search
How Much You Can Afford
In order to purchase a home, you will have to have the funds. Unless you are paying with cash, you will need to talk to a lender to get pre-approved. Your financing options will tell you a lot before you even begin to look at homes to buy. Talking to a local lender will provide you with your budget, your monthly expected costs and so much more.
Where You Want to Live
Are you new to the area, or have you lived here your whole life? You may want to live close to where you work, or where your family lives… You may want to live close to the beach or in a larger city. Do your research before you set out to buy. A good Real Estate agent can help you learn about certain areas you may be unfamiliar with.
Specific Must Haves
When buying a home, it is important to identify five must-haves. These are amenities that you absolutely won’t be satisfied without. These are usually features like number of bedrooms, a pool, two car garage etc. Whatever your must haves are, be sure to communicate that to your Real Estate Agent so they can weed out homes that don’t meet your criteria.
The Benefits of Getting Pre-Approved and Working with a REALTOR®
Saving You Time, Money and Stress
Alleviate some of the stress that goes into finding the right home by working with a licensed Realtor. We are here to guide you through every step of the buying process, from putting in a competitive offer, to inspections, to closing. The best part of having a Real Estate Partner to walk you through the buying process is, it’s 100% FREE to you.
Faster and Targeted Results
Working with a licensed REALTOR® can expedite your search for a home to buy, providing you with targeted results based on your unique qualifications. Something that sets us apart from other Real Estate Agents is our large network of local lenders that we can recommend to pre-approve buyers. Using local lenders provides buyers a more personalized experience, more often than not finding them creative ways to finance that larger lenders will not provide. Getting pre-approved will tell us your buying power as well as provide you with the potential monthly costs associated with buying a home.
Pre-Approval Facts
What does being pre-approved mean?
Being pre-approved for a home loan means that a lender has evaluated your credit history and current financial health in order to determine how much they are willing to finance and what loan types you qualify for (FHA, VA, Conventional etc.). You will provide the lender of your choice key information about your personal financial history such as your employment, your reserves, and your credit worthiness.
Will getting pre-approved hurt my credit score?
When you get pre-approved, there is a soft hit on your credit. So it could affect your credit score slightly, but not in any significant way. It is important that if you plan to shop mortgage companies, you should submit applications within a 30-day period. Most credit bureaus will notate multiple soft pulls as normal behavior and will not count negatively against your credit. Our friends at the Mortgage Firm answer a lot more frequently asked questions like:
What’s the difference between getting pre-qualified and pre-approved?
What type of documents are required for the mortgage process?
What do closing costs consist of?
Be sure to do your homework and choose a lender that can work best with you and your individual situation.