"How To" buy a House

Anyone have any threads notebooked, or can give me refrences or a link on the process of buying our first home.

We are just starting out looking and really have NO CLUE on the process.

Thanks in advance.

Re: "How To" buy a House

i don't have any how to threads notebooked unfortunately, but I can suggest to do something similar to our process:

First thing we did was go speak with banks (started with our Credit Union, and eventually got out mortgage through them). We wanted to know exactly what we'd be dealing with in terms of monthly payments and make sure our debt to income ratio wasn't going to be too high. Before we spoke to them, the numbers we thought we had in mind were much lower than what we were actually able to afford, so in the end, we were able to get "more" house. They were also able to explain the different mortgage products to us and what each mean in terms of down payment, terms of the loan, etc. It was great to hear it in laymens terms in a setting where we could ask questions...and we had a lot of them!

After we knew the ball park figure of what a certain mortgage would yield in terms of monthly payment, we budgetted ourselves out completely down to the very last cent and made room for monthly savings. We knew that we not only were going to have to buy a home that needed some work (and therefore require cash on hand), but we also wanted to build a sizeable savings nest egg for an emergency fund, for future children, etc. We decided on what we wanted to spend on a house and then started to stalk the MLS sites in our area.

Next, we met with realtors and chose one. We went with a woman that our friends had used twice and had excellent experiences with her as well. Our RE was great. She took us out looking for a trial run one Sunday morning and showed us a bunch of homes that were different styles with different layouts, and in varying neighborhoods. This was so she could get a sense of what we liked and didn't liked, and for us to also get the same understanding. It's one thing to look at homes on the web, it's totally different to see them in person and go through them.

We were lucky; we found our house on the second time out with our RE. We went back to see it a second time (the next day), and decided to put an offer in on it. Our RE was very helpful, and very honest, about the offering process and throughout the contract writing process. Here in MD, they use a standard contract, so it's much easier than in other states....Maryland's is literally a "fill in the blank" contract. We also had all kinds of contingencies in our contract (inspection, termites, funding, etc), so if anythign went wrong with the house from that point on, we would be able to get out of it without losing our earnest money deposit.

After we finally had a signed contract back from the seller, we scheduled our inspections, went through those, had the issues addressed, and then the credit union scheduled an appraiser to come out and then before we knew it, we were at closing.

Start to finish, we saw the home for the first time on June 28th, closed on August 28th.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Re: "How To" buy a House

We jsut went into contract on our first house.

I suggest starting with getting pre-approved for a mortgage. This way you know exactly what price range you can look in and don't go out and fall in love with a house you can't afford.

Then you can look for houses on your own or get a buyers agent. We went with a buyers agent, mostly because it was our first time and wanted someone on our side. I can recommend a few people depending on where you are looking.

I also was addicted to MLSLI. I was on the site for hours a day.

We started looking in August and put a few offers on houses (4 I think) and finally got an accepted offer a couple weeks ago. We put offers in and most time we were just a day or two late....they houses had multiple offers on the houses. One we were the highest offer but we were a day too late cause they had accepted an offer the night before and didn't want to break the acceptance.

Be prepared for an emotional journey....I had many sleepless nights....mostly because I couldn't shut my brain off thinking about a house.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

Re: "How To" buy a House

i dont have any threads to help but i can tell you what i recommend....

the first thing i would do is go meet with a mortgage broker (FM me if you would like the info of our guy-he is great) this will help you calculate your price range/tax range to keep a safe monthly payment, then you can think about looking at houses.....i would hate to find my perfect dream home and then be let down bc there was no way we could afford it

then get yourself a buyers agent, they will do all the work for you based on your criteria, listing the must haves, and would likes (again FM me if you would like our agent, she is a shark but works more suffolk) and hopefully help you find your dream home.....

then they can take you from there.....

FM me if you have specific questions i can help you with and good luck and happy house hunting!!!!!

Re: "How To" buy a House

THANK YOU!
THANK YOU THANK YOU.... SO MUCH!!!!

I really appreciate the time you all took to type out your responses!! We are just getting started, and honestly do not know how!!


At least now I have a jumping off point

Re: "How To" buy a House

I have nothing to add since I bought my house 15 years ago. BUT ****....you are smoking hot in that pic!

Re: "How To" buy a House

Re: "How To" buy a House

I was just pre-approved for a mortgage and after figuring in taxes the monthly payments are much higher than I'm comfortable with. Even buying a condo, the maintenence fees bring the price right up. DH and I decided to wait, resign our lease for another 2 years. This will give us enough time to save a sizable downpayment 20% or more and we will be looking into a condo as our starter home. My advice is to look into all costs involve. No matter what you buy you will need insurance, maintenence, closing costs and once you move in you will want to decorate so put aside some cash for paint etc.

Re: "How To" buy a House

We had no clue about anything when we bought our house...we went out and bought "Home Buying for Dummies". Very helpful!

Re: "How To" buy a House

My best advice is to start with gettig PRE-APPROVED. Not pre-qualified. We got pre-qualified at first and it caused us to go through a nightmare of a time getting approved down the road.

Once u get pre-approved, find a realtor. Once u find a realtor, u should start looking at houses online. I would then look up the address and do drive-bys.

If u r not a good record keeper, try to start hanging onto credit card bills, paystubs, retirement acct info, get a copy of last year's tax records----they'll ask for all of those things.

Hope that helps!

Re: "How To" buy a House

I agree w/ the above posters.

However - before getting pre-approved, I would put a spreadsheet together of your expenses, estimated home expeses (do a search on here for gas/oil bills, lipa, water, etc). Back into a # you are comfortable with paying a mortgage/insurance & Taxes. Find out how much of a mortgage you can support. Your pre-approval should be for at least this amount. Don't go by what the bank says you can afford - do your own analysis and then see what the banks says.

Re: "How To" buy a House

Re: "How To" buy a House

Kim, I know I am late in responding to this thread, but I thought I would anyway. You really got some very thorough answers already...very impressive.

As most have stated you do need to start with a mortgage pre-approval. This will help you to realize what you can comfortably afford. Once you have that information you can begin looking at homes that will be within your range. Start by narrowing down what town/towns you would like to live in. Once you have that narrowed down, it is always good to start looking online, but also by speaking with an agent and telling them what you think you might like, he/she will be able to pick some houses for you. As a Realtor I can tell you that most people do not buy what they say they want....I always tell my clients to keep an open mind and look at all different styles. Have a wish list of things you would like in the house, but again be open. Allow yourself to just fall in love with it even if it was not what you were looking for.

Your Real Estate agent can be a huge resource for you. He/she can help you with information on the house itself, the area, the school districe etc. They will help you through the entire process which can be long and frustrating at times. There are two ways an agent can represent you, as some of the other posts have mentioned. One is as a Brokers Agent which means they work for the seller of the home, and the other is as a Buyers Agent where they work for you. This is something that you need the agent to explain to you further because it is an important issue. If you would like more information on this, just let me know and I can email you some literature on Buyer vs. Broker Agents.

Once you have choosen an agent, and you have gone house hunting the fun begins. You find your dream home and you would like to put an offer on it. Your agent will discuss with you what your offer is and what your terms are. The terms are How much you will be putting down as a deposit, How much you will be mortgaging, How much you will be putting down at closing and When are you looking to take possession of the house. You will also need your pre-approval letter to accompany your offer. In most cases the seller will come back with a counter-offer so be prepared for some negotiating.

After the offer has been accepted you will need to get an engineer/inspector in ASAP. Usually you try to get one into the house in a day or two after the accepted offer. This is important since the house will still be shown and other offers can be considered. Until they house is in FULL contract (both buyer and seller have signed), that house is still available to anyone who wants it. They are under no obligation to sell it to you unitl the contracts are signed. After your inspection you would then give the agents the go ahead to tell the lawyers to draw up the contracts. Only after both sides have signed the contracts does the house come off the available list and is contractually yours. Please be aware should you at this time change your mind on the house, you will loose your downpayment money. The only way you can get out of the house without loosing your downpayment is if you do not get your mortgage. Then the contract is voided.

Now that you are in contract you focus on getting your mortgage. You will need to provide them with many documents and then be prepared to wait. While you are waiting the appraisal and title searches are being done by the bank. Once you are approved for the mortgage, the closing date will be set and you are ready to go.

It can be a very overwhelming experience but an agent will walk you through every part of it. Be sure to find someone that you connect with and would like to stay with. Now is such a great time to buy because of the interest rates so know that you are going to get a great deal and start your search. If I can answer any questions for you, feel free to contact me at any time. Good Luck

Re: "How To" buy a House

Thanks to everyone responding!

We have looked at a few homes already and are heading back out tomorrow to look at 5 more.


I really do appreciate all the responces!

Re: "How To" buy a House

i agree the 1st step is to get pre-approved. this shows that you are a serious and qualified buyer.

one piece advice is to get everything in writing. i can write a book of the number of issues we had especially with our real estate agent. all the emails that i saved came in handy & saved us alot of money & grief.

also, make sure that when you get a mortgage & lock into a rate that the sellers will be able to close by the time your rate expires. there are fees involved with extending your rate & you don't want to lose your rate. that was one of the issues we had.

finally, make sure you pick a good lawyer. unfortunately, i will not recommend mine. he was expensive & did not pull his weight. you are paying him/her to look out for your best interest. don't ever feel you are "bothering them". thats why they get paid the big bucks for.

i am not going to lie the whole process is stressful & draining. but in the end it will al be worth it. i hope you have better luck than i did.

if you have any questions feel free to send me an FM

Good Luck!

Re: "How To" buy a House

I just wanted to thank everyone again!

We were Pre-Approved today for our mortgage and have figured out what we are comfortable paying. We added up all our expenses and what home expenses we can have. Dh has a second job, and I plan on getting one too at this point just to make it easier on us.

We have a RE Agent who is Buyers Agent. We have narrowed down what neighborhoods we are looking in, and what we would 'need' or 'want' in a home. We believe that we are going to be looking to some more homes at this point and maybe go forward in the process!!


I am sure I will have more questions, but I really do want to THANK you all again. This thread has been so helpful.

Re: "How To" buy a House

how exciting, good luck to you and Greg!