Buying your dream home can be a challenging process, especially if you are a first-timer in the real estate market! After all, there are so many documents, steps, requirements, and tasks to take care of in the process. However, that shouldn’t deter you from making this significantly huge milestone decision in your life. If you are in a highly competitive real estate market, it is natural to feel stressed and positively overwhelmed. Except for a few details here and there, the overall process of buying a home remains the same in almost every state in the country. If you are a first-time homebuyer, you will also enjoy special benefits that are specifically created for new real estate market entrants. If you are looking around the area, you can discover houses for sale in Corvallis, Oregon, here and get one step closer to your homeownership goals. To demystify the process of buying your home, we have come up with a home-buying checklist that is aimed to help you whether you are in the market for the first or the tenth time.
A Comprehensive Home Buying Checklist
● Check Your Credit Score
Check your credit report as the first step to researching how to buy a house. The report can pull out data from over three major credit reporting agencies and give you a comprehensive score by calculating both your FICO and your Vantage scores. You can also dispute any discrepancies in your report and resolve them before applying for housing finance.
● Check What You Can Afford
You should look for properties that cost no more than 3 to 5 times your annual household income if you are ready to make a 20% down payment along with having a moderate amount of EMIs. You can take the help of an online mortgage calculator by taking into consideration your monthly debts, annual income, and projected down payment amount. Next, you can make a list of some of the must-have features and amenities to stay on track so that you are not lost in a sea of properties.
● Find a Real Estate Agent
Choosing the right real estate agent can make all the difference. They can give you invaluable market insights, bring the best offer prices, help you to negotiate, give insider tips on local familiarity, offer professional vendor recommendations, and handle paperwork with seamless expertise. Do prior research and ask a variety of questions to find your fit.
● Get Pre-approved
You will naturally want to get a mortgage pre-approval for your new house as it can initiate the mortgage process and give you an idea about how much you can borrow. The lender can calculate the debt-to-income ratio and examine your overall financial health. This is done by reviewing your debts, assets, income statements, records of foreclosures and bankruptcies, and current law obligations like child support payments or down payment gifts.
● Search Homes for Sale
Start browsing “homes for sale” in your area and narrow down your wishlist with the help of your real estate agent. You can filter your search by listing down your must-haves and budget. This way, you can have a list of homes with specific home styles, price ranges, neighborhoods and locations, and other amenities while searching for properties on the MLS.
● Attend Home Tours and Open Houses
Start attending in-person and virtual open houses and home tours to identify your preferences when it comes to layouts and features. Always remember to take notes while exploring, as it’s easy to confuse the different concerns and features.
● Make an Offer
Once you find the right home, your real estate agent will help you to come up with a comparative market analysis (CMA) and the right offer amount. Using this as the baseline, you should determine your fair offer price and leave some room for negotiation.
● Schedule Inspection
A home inspection is one of the most important steps while buying a house, as you should be aware of plumbing, electrical, and structural issues with the home. A qualified home inspector can give you a report that can indicate any major issue with the home.
● Prepare to Negotiate
After receiving a counteroffer, you should prepare to negotiate with the seller. Your real estate agent will help you through the negotiation process and reach an agreement on the offer.
● Close and Move
Congratulations, you have reached the final stages of buying your dream home! A real estate attorney or a title company will close the transactions, and you will typically get the keys to your home on the closing date. You can plan to hire movers, set up your utilities, and buy furniture and appliances for your new home.
The above-mentioned home-buying tips will help you in the buying process as well as give you a run down about what to expect in the real estate market. It can fill the gaps in your home-buying knowledge. You can explore the various choices that will be presented to you so that you can make smart decisions every single time. Irrespective of your location and budget, these home-buying tips can take you beyond the process of simply touring homes. This way, you can save a lot of time and effort in the process and make the whole journey more manageable by taking well-calculated financial and personal decisions. Always remember that the more you educate yourself, the more likely you will find your dream house within your budget and experience a less stressful process.
