Let’s face it, buying a house takes a lot of time and effort. The search process can be exciting, stressful and emotional. To make it manageable, here are ten empowering tips from (https://www.discover.com/home-loans/articles/10-steps-to-buying-a-home) to help you make decisions that the best for you, your family and your wallet.

Step 1: Start Your Research Early

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.

Step 2: Determine How Much House You Can Afford

Lenders generally recommend that people look for homes that cost no more than three to five times their annual household income if the home buyers plan to make a 20% down payment and have a moderate amount of other debt.

Step 3: Get Prequalified and Preapproved 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 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.

Step 4: Find the Right Real Estate Agent

Real estate agents 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 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 and it can be hard to remember everything about them, so you might want to take pictures or video to help you remember each home.

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. Both you and the seller 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 Banker 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 having one of our experienced, responsive mortgage bankers assist you can make the process much easier.

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 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!

Bottom Line: Buying a home is an infrequent occurrence; for some of us it happens only once in a lifetime. Wouldn’t it be helpful to have Estelia Mesimer on your side? She is up-to-speed on Florida real estate laws, knows which neighborhoods would best fit your lifestyle and will help you navigate a bidding war. That’s the value an experienced agent provides!

Related Links:
Florida Real Estate Contracts and Contract Forms: https://www.uslegalforms.com/realestatecontracts/florida-real-estate-contracts-forms.htm

Estelia Loves….. Historic Uptown

Historic Uptown is a quiet neighborhood with an active Neighborhood Association. In 2012, residents of Historic Uptown participated in a series of planning meetings to lay out a vision for the neighborhood. The Association continues to work closely with the City to ensure the vision laid out in this plan is brought to reality. Another reason why Uptown is a recognized as a model of committed civic engagement and place making.

Whether you’re looking to buy or sell in Historic Uptown hiring The Mesimer Team will set you up for success every time! Don’t wait – call today!