10 Tips for Buying A Home

Buying a house requires a lot of time and effort, but these 10 steps can help make the home buying process manageable and help you make the best decisions possible.

Step 1: Start Your Research Early

Reach out to us here at Welcome Home™ as soon as you can. Start reading Web sites, newspapers, and magazines that have real estate listings. Make a note of particular homes you are interested in and see how long they stay on the market. Also, note any changes in asking prices. This will give you a sense of the housing trends in specific areas. If you have any questions along the way, we are happy to help!

Step 2: Call Your Real Estate Agent

Real estate agents like us are important partners when you’re buying or selling a home. Real estate agents can provide you with helpful information on homes and neighborhoods that isn’t easily accessible to the public. Their knowledge of the home buying process, negotiating skills, and familiarity with the area you want to live in can be extremely valuable. And best of all, it doesn’t cost you anything to use an agent – they’re compensated from the commission paid by the seller of the house!

Step 3: Determine How Much House You Can Afford

Lenders generally recommend that people look for homes that cost no more than three to four times their annual household income, especially if you have other debts and liabilities (ie student loans, car payments, credit card debt). For example:

If your household income is $130,000, you may want to start looking at home priced between $390,000-$520,000.

But you should make this determination based on your own financial situation. Our trusted financial partners can evaluate your financial situation and make recommendations that fit your specific plans. 

Don’t forget to ask us for our Mortgage Calculator App to help you make calculations on the go during your home search!

Step 4: Get Prequalified and Pre-Approved for credit for Your Mortgage

Before you start looking for a home, you will need to know how much you can actually spend. The best way to do that is to get prequalified for a mortgage. To get prequalified, you just need to provide some financial information to your mortgage banker, such as your income and the amount of savings and investments you have. Your lender will review this information and tell you how much we can lend you. This will tell you the price range of the homes you should be looking at. 

If you would like to be ahead of the curve, you can get pre-approved for credit, which involves providing your financial documents (W-2 statements, paycheck stubs, bank account statements, etc.) so your lender can verify your financial status and credit. This is often recommended in markets with low inventory in order to cut down on the time between viewing the property and making the offer. This decision is best made by discussing with your chosen lender.

Step 5: Shop for Your Home and Make an Offer

Start touring homes in your price range. It might be helpful to take notes on all the homes you visit. You will see a lot of houses! It can be hard to remember everything about them, so you might want to take pictures or video to help you remember each home.

Make sure to check out the little details of each house. For example:

•Test the water pressure.

•Test the electrical switches and appliances.

•Open and close the windows and doors to see if they work properly

•Evaluate the neighborhood and make a note of things such as:

-Are other homes on the block well maintained?

-How much traffic does the street get?

Is there enough street parking?

-Is it conveniently located near places of interest?

Once you find the right home, work with your Realtor to negotiate a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes in the same neighborhood. Once you and the seller have reached agreement on a price, the house will go “under contract”, which is the period of time it takes to complete all of the remaining steps in the home buying process.

Step 6: Get a Home Inspection

Typically, purchase offers are contingent on a home inspection of the property to check for signs of structural damage or things that may need fixing. Your real estate agent usually will help you arrange to have this inspection conducted within a few days of your offer being accepted by the seller. This contingency protects you by giving you a chance to renegotiate your offer or withdraw it without penalty if the inspection reveals significant material damage.

You will receive a report on the home inspector’s findings. You can then decide if you want to ask the seller to fix anything on the property before closing the sale. Before the sale closes, you will have a walk-through of the house, which gives you the chance to confirm that any agreed-upon repairs have been made.

Step 7: Work with a Mortgage Lender to Select Your Loan

Lenders have a wide range of competitively priced loan programs and a reputation for exceptional customer service. You will have many questions when you are purchasing a home, and speaking with one of our experienced, responsive mortgage specialists can make the process much easier to understand.

Every home buyer has their own priorities when choosing a mortgage. Some are interested in keeping their monthly payments as low as possible. Others are interested in making sure that their monthly payments never increase. And still others pick a loan based on the knowledge they will be moving again in just a few years. 

Our lender partners can help you choose the financial product that matches your plans.

Step 8: Have the Home Appraised

Lenders will arrange for an appraiser to provide an independent estimate of the value of the house you are buying. The appraiser is a member of a third party company and is not directly associated with the lender. The appraisal will let all the parties involved know that you are paying a fair price for the home.

Step 9: Coordinate the Paperwork

As you can imagine, there is a lot of paperwork involved in buying a house. Your lender and Realtor will arrange for a title company to handle all of the paperwork and make sure that the seller is the rightful owner of the house you are buying.

Step 10: Close the Sale

At closing, you will sign all of the paperwork required to complete the purchase, including your loan documents. It typically takes a couple of days for your loan to be funded after the paperwork is returned to the lender. Once the check is delivered to the seller, you are ready to move into your new home!

If you would like to start the process today, call us at 610.324.5579 or send an email to jesse@phillywelcomehome.com.