Tips For Buying Your First House
Posted on: 17 June 2017
If it is your first time buying a home, you may be feeling very much overwhelmed. It can be hard to know what to do and when to do it. However, with a little bit of planning and a lot of work, you will find yourself closing on a great home for you and your family. There are a few actions that you should take to ensure that the buying process is as simple as possible. This article is going to outline three different steps that you can take that will help streamline the buying process.
Pre-Approval
One of the very first things that you should do is talk with a lender or a loan officer. The loan officer is going to look at your financial history and tell you what type of loan they will be able to qualify you for. When you talk with the loan officer, be ready to give them your last two years' tax returns, including your W-2s, and you will need your pay stubs from the last few months. The loan officer is going to take this information and then check your credit. With this information the loan officer will be able to pre-qualify you for a specific amount of a loan. This is going to give you leverage when you make an offer on a home because you are already pre-qualified for the loan.
Real Estate Agent
Find a real estate agent that is very well reviewed and has done excellent work in the past. A real estate agent is going to be able to help you find the home that you would like to buy, but they do much more than this. A good real estate agent is going to be able to walk you through the entire process. There is a lot of paperwork that is going to have to be completed, and the real estate agent will be able to explain everything on the paperwork.
Budget
You are going to want to budget very wisely. There is nothing like getting into a new house and realizing that you may not be able to pay the bills. Just because you have been qualified for a specific amount of a loan does not mean that you need to get that expensive of a home. Remember when you are making your budget that you should count all of your fixed expenses that you have now and also add in your mortgage, property tax, and mortgage insurance (if applicable), as well as utilities and an emergency fund, just in case something goes wrong with the home.
For more information, talk to an agent at a business like ERA Kings Bay Realty.
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