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First Time Buyer's Guide

Buying a home is one of the most exciting milestones of your life. To prepare yourself for this moment, you need to know what to expect during the process. This step-by-step first time buyer’s guide created by our team will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

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Research

Do you already know where you want to buy? If you want a condo, townhome, or single-family home? Which features do you like and dislike? What’s available on the market now? If you answered no to any of these questions, now is the time to start researching. In addition to looking for homes that interest you, also take note of any changes in asking prices. This could give you valuable insight into housing trends in specific neighborhoods and help you when the time comes to make an offer.

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Decide on Your Budget

Notice we said to decide on your budget—not determine how much the mortgage company will give you. In many cases, a mortgage company will pre-approve you for more than you’re comfortable spending, which is why you need to determine the monthly payment you feel comfortable with before talking to a lender. This likely includes doing a full household budget and taking into consideration what changes other than a mortgage payment will occur once you move into your new home. If you’ve lived in an apartment or with roommates, you may overlook new expenses like garbage, water, or HOA fees that could easily blow your budget.

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Get Prequalified

Just because you think you can afford a certain payment every month doesn’t mean the mortgage company will agree. Just as they may approve you for too large of an amount, they may also approve you for a lesser amount or deny you a mortgage altogether. Lack of time at a job, insufficient credit, past bankruptcies, or other financial issues can cause major problems when trying to secure a mortgage. Before you get your heart set on a home, talk to a mortgage professional to find out what amount you can qualify for. This will also be an advantage when you make an offer on a home, as some sellers won’t entertain offers from those who aren’t already prequalified for a loan.

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Choose a Real Estate Agent

Can you shop for, look at, and ultimately make an offer on a home without a real estate agent? Technically yes, but why would you when it costs you nothing for agents like us to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will we help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but we also have a knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where our expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let us show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

Our goal is to provide you with the most personalized service that is designed to help you buy your dream home

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Find the Right Home

This should be the most enjoyable step of the entire process (other than moving in!). We will arrange showings of homes you’re interested in that are within your price range. Take notes about what you like and don’t like, and make sure to pay attention to details. Turn light switches on and off, open and close doors, and run the faucets in various rooms. Don’t limit your inspection to the home itself. Make sure to take time to explore the neighborhood and keep an eye on traffic at certain times of the day, the parking situation, and how close it is to necessities like schools and grocery stores.

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Make an Offer

Once you have selected the perfect home, work with your agent to craft a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes on the market. Depending on what the home is listed at and whether the current environment is a buyer’s or seller’s market, your offer may be below, at, or even above the asking price. We will be able to help you negotiate if you receive a counteroffer and reach an agreement. At this point, the house will go into escrow.

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Have the Home Inspected

In most cases, your offer will be contingent on having the home inspected to ensure there is no major structural damage or large repairs needed. We can help you arrange this, and you can schedule it within days of making an offer. If there are no major issues, the process goes to step eight. If there is, you can renegotiate your offer based on what needs to be fixed, or you can withdraw it.

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Select Your Loan

Now is the time to go back to the mortgage lender who pre-approved or pre-qualified you and choose your mortgage. You will be presented with various options based on your unique financial situation, including fixed-rate, variable-rate, 15-year, 30-year, or special programs such as VA loans or FHA loans. Work with your mortgage lender to select the option you feel the most comfortable with.

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Get a Home Appraisal

Your lender will have your new home appraised so they have their independent value of it. The appraisal is to ensure that all parties involved are paying a fair price for the house.

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Finish Paperwork

No one looks forward to all the paperwork involved in buying a home, but it’s a necessary part of the process. Fortunately, everything will be arranged by your lender and title company and, when you’re finished, you’ll know you are the legal owner of your new home.

Congratulations!

After signing the final paperwork to complete the purchase, you are now the owner of a new house. It may take a few days for your loan to be funded once the paperwork has been returned to the lender, but once that check is delivered to the seller, you’ll be all set to move into the home of your dreams.

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Buyer & Seller
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Sheila
What our clients say about working with us

I am not even sure where to begin. Kimberly was so much more than a realtor to us. We found her through a recommendation from a friend who recently bought a home. We were super hesitant to meet with her as we weren't even sure we wanted to buy a home and we did not want to feel any pressure. We had no clue what to expect. Kimberly agreed to meet with us and throughout the entire journey put absolutely no...

— Buyer

What our clients say about working with us

We were referred to Kimberly by a coworker, and immediately upon our first meeting with her, we felt at ease. She arrived prepared to help us sell our first home, including research, comparables, and clearly identified timelines and steps. We walked away from that first meeting ready to get started and she continued to excel throughout the process - she handled everything from preparation advice, staging...

— Buyer & Seller

What our clients say about working with us

The journey was a long and grueling one for us. Over the course of 5 months, we looked at countless homes in the middle of a global pandemic in one of the craziest housing markets in the country. Within the first few homes we saw together, Kimberly had an idea for our taste and could identify homes that met our needs as well as provide a good investment to us as first-time homebuyers. Not only did we tou...

— Buyer

What our clients say about working with us

What can be said other than Kimberly absolutely knocked this home-buying process out of the park? From the initial conversations to the closing, she made the entire home-buying process as smooth and convenient as could be. Our first bid was accepted! She negotiated several favors from the seller who was not in any way obligated to make these concessions, but Kimberly somehow got it done. She has tremendo...

— Buyer

What our clients say about working with us

As we simultaneously moved into looking for our next home to buy, she handled that part of the process in exactly the same professional manner. She worked with us to ensure that we truly understood what we were seeking, that we compromised where we could but stood fast with the things that she heard were important to us, and never pressured us or put us in a compromising position. We came up with the per...

— Buyer

What our clients say about working with us

I purchased my home with Kimberly. Her knowledge of the housing market enabled me to get the home I wanted. She negotiated a reduction in price once some small issues came up in the inspection. Also, her knowledge of general appliance life, electrical and heating and cooling systems was tremendous through the whole purchase process. She looks out for her clients.

— Sheila

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Our mission is to help others build wealth through real estate. With us as your loyal advocate, we'll show you how to assemble an abundant life through the unique wealth-building opportunities that only owning real estate can provide. Our trusted client approach is an unyielding commitment to honesty, backed with integrity, while assisting you in executing your own path toward financial freedom. Let's begin your journey together.