Growing up, many people asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. Honestly, I’ve always been a bit mature for my age, and I usually answered, to the laughter of adults, who asked me, “I want to have a house and a dog.” The reason I bring this up is simply to reiterate how owning real estate is part of the American dream. For thousands of years in England, the vast majority of the population could not own property and were subservient to those who could own houses. So when it comes time for an American to consider buying a home, there are five easy steps to the complicated process.
The first thing any homebuyer should do is hire a real estate agent. A real estate agent is experienced and trained in the entire home buying process. They can give advice on anything from helping to prioritize what the family wants to financing, negotiations and closing. A real estate agent will have first-hand experience with inspectors, bankers, attorneys, sellers, neighborhoods, communities, and all sorts of other aspects of homes and real estate. In addition to all their experience, a real estate agent has access to an MLS or multiple listing service and can send listings directly to their clients, real estate agents can go to a house and tour it before the client, or even tour it for a client. The real estate agent will also usually be willing to take people, and therefore the buyer can use the real estate agent’s gas to find a house.
The second thing a new person on the market should do is figure out exactly what they want and find that home. This is self-explanatory, but without the right parameters, it’s hard to find a new home and even harder to act on the home that’s perfect. Every buyer has a feeling that there is a better neighborhood, a better house, a better situation out there, but the truth is that if the buyer goes out into the neighborhoods and discovers a house with the preset conditions that they would like, then they should do a offer for the house.
After finding the house, the buyer needs to obtain a loan. Less than ten percent of homes purchased in the United States are purchased without a loan, and almost none of those homes are first-time buyers. Using a mortgage broker might be a good idea as they can sometimes find better deals on a loan or a loan the borrower will qualify for. There are several things a buyer can do to prepare for a loan, such as building credit, getting promotions at work, saving for a down payment, paying down debt, etc.
Once the loan is in place or the buyer is pre-approved to purchase a home, they must negotiate the offer. Negotiations are a good time to fully listen to the real estate agent. A real estate agent will be very experienced in closing on a house and will wisely guide negotiations in the right direction. Give the correct offer according to the market, if the market is a buyer’s market, the offer may be a little below the quoted price and vice versa for a seller’s market.
