Our 10 Steps To Becoming First-Time Homebuyers; a Beginner’s Guide

I'm back, friends! Before I decided to publish my blog I swore to myself that I would not become one of those people to just ride the wave and then stop posting after one month. And alas, here I am, basically a month and a half without a new blog post. But I'll let ya in on a little secret...I've had pages and pages of content written since last fall! It's just been a little hectic around our house lately....we added a puppy to the mix! His name is Ross, he loves to bite anything and everything, and we just adore him! Not that it's an excuse, but it's the reason I haven't hardly had a wink of free time with two free hands in the last month! Anyways, after all this time, I am sharing with you all our 10 steps to becoming first-time homebuyers. Enjoy!

This is Ross, isn't he just the cutest pup? How could you blame me for being a little preoccupied?!?

The home-buying process can be extremely scary and daunting when you’re starting

from the bottom with no previous experience. Trust me, I get it! I’ve never felt more

like an adult than I did when we started the home-buying process (until we became

actual homeowners, that is)! Thankfully Bryan and I had a wonderful realtor and

two sets of parents who were awesome throughout the whole process! We just sort

of navigated our way through it as we went, but if you would like to know how we

did it, here are our 10 steps to becoming first-time homeowners:

1. Know your market

This is an obvious fact, but real estate tends to vary GREATLY depending on

the city where you live. It’s a good idea to research and gauge the average price and have a good idea of the neighborhoods you want to be in. Bryan spent many hours checking out Realtor.com just for kicks and giggles before we even started looking for real. (I will forever blame the beginning of the home-hunt on him).

2. Be realistic about what you can afford before you start the process

It’s so easy to get lost in the houses with wrap-around porches, lush green yards, and drool worthy statement fireplaces (can you tell I’m from the south?) but don’t get too caught up in what you can’t have and set yourself up for disappointment. Instead, start researching and pinteresting creative ways to do more with what you can afford.

3. Budget, budget, budget!

If you haven’t read my previous post about how we budgeted BEFORE we purchased a home, go check it out! It’s so important to know if you even want a house payment before you go through all of the trouble and waste your time. Follow our House-Buying Budget Hack for two months and see if it’s what you really want.

4. Get Pre-Qualified

This is when stuff starts to get real! The process could be different depending on your situation, but for us it was pretty simple. We picked our lender (after shopping interest rates), emailed a mortgage representative, and set up a time to meet. At the meeting, we went over our income, outstanding debt, and other financial information. Based on our answers to some questions regarding our finances, the lender ran some numbers that factored in interest rates and such. From this she came up with a max number that we could likely afford each month and we went from there!

5. Pick a Realtor

The next ideal step would be to pick a realtor should you choose to work

with one (and we strongly suggest it). This is where we messed up and would

have done things differently had we known. (Ya learn things along the way). It is really best to get prequalified and have a more solid idea of what is realistic BEFORE you start to involve a realtor. Those people are so busy they likely don’t have the time to meet with potential clients who don’t really have a clue about how much they can actually spend. Luckily our realtor was a total gem and was so nice about helping us along and walking us through

the whole process even though we had no idea what we were doing the first time we met with her! (Shout-out to Melanie at Sugar Magnolia Properties!)

6. Look at houses and do drive-by’s FIRST before scheduling a tour

This was a tip that we learned from our realtor and it was a good one. Setting

up an appointment to view a house is not always easy. There are usually several parties involved, all with different and busy schedules. Our realtor made it our responsibility to drive by the houses we were interested in BEFORE we scheduled a viewing to check out the neighborhood. Because honestly, location can make or break a house, no matter how beautiful the fireplace and backyard is! This way, if the location was a bust, we didn’t have

to waste anyone’s time with scheduling a tour.

7. Don’t settle

One of our biggest mistakes (okay, fine it was all me) was starting to panic as

our options slimmed towards the end of summer. In our market, it is common for the prime house-buying season to be during the spring and summer months and then the available options drop off dramatically during the start of the school year. We had been looking for a couple months with no luck, and eventually stumbled upon a house with a floor plan that I fell in love with. We almost settled for a home that was over budget and needed some updates that would have cost us even more than we could afford. And that’s not even

including some unknown potential issues that were likely to arise. Thankfully, after some heavy discussions and hurt feelings, Bryan was able to bring me back to reality and I was able to trust his gut feeling that we needed to walk away. I was just so scared that if we didn’t snag that one, it would be a whole year before we found one again. And looking back, I realize that doesn’t matter. What’s one year of waiting for the perfect home if you’re planning on staying in it for years and years? It’s way better to wait for the right one to come along than to panic and settle for less than what you want.

8. Get Pre-approved/approved

Once we found our home (thank you Jesus!), we went through the process of

being pre-approved in order to make an offer. I’m not sure if this step is the

same for everyone, but it is what our realtor had us do. Our lender wrote us

an official letter with the amount that we were pre-approved for that we sent

to the seller along with our offer.

9. Make an offer!

After finding our house and getting pre-approved, we proceeded to make an offer through our realtor. Ours just happened to be an expert and after doing some research, provided us with a number she felt was fair for both the seller and the buyer. The seller will either accept or counter, and this is where the negotiations become very interesting! This part of the process is very nerve wracking - waiting for a response from the seller and hoping and praying they accept is stressful yet so exciting in a way. And, fun fact, our realtor hit the nail on the head! The initial price that she recommended based on her expertise and research ended up being exactly what the house appraised for in the end.

10. You’re on your way!

Once you agree on an asking price with the seller, there are many steps that must be taken before everything is official. Inspections, surveys, and other boring legal stuff (just being honest here!) all have to align before you’re in the clear. This process usually takes a month and it definitely felt like one of the longest months of our lives! But SO WORTH THE WAIT!

First selfie on the first night in our own home! The excitement was so worth the (short) wait!

Obviously, I can’t cover every single step in the entire process. There is so much to know, which is why we recommend working with a realtor...your life will be SO MUCH EASIER! Just trust me. So there you go! These 10 steps are intended to *hopefully* give you a better idea

of how the process works and to break it down in a way that is easy to understand

and manage!