The Home Buying process can seem like an intimidating journey to start, especially as a first-time homebuyer. So we put together this guide to help you understand the first steps of finding your dream home!
Buying a new home starts with figuring out what you can afford then developing a game plan for finding the house that meets your budget as well as all of your wants and needs. Use these steps to understand the process, then contact us to get rolling!
Get Pre-Approved
Figuring out your price-point is the first step in finding a new home. Meet with a mortgage lender to discuss all of your options when it comes to mortgage types, monthly payments and price ranges you can afford. The lender will provide a Pre-Approval Letter which states and verifies the loan amount you qualify for.
This letter is important, especially in today’s market, to prove to sellers that you have the money to back up your offer. Many listing agents won’t even consider your offer without a pre-approval letter because of the competitive market we’re in right now!
Call Your Agent
Once you have figured out your price range, call your agent to discuss the other details about your dream home.
- The number of bedrooms and bathrooms that would meet your family’s needs.
- The square footage you desire.
- What areas of Hampton Roads you want to move to…specific neighborhoods, school regions ect.
- Some “wants” in a home you would love to have.
Once we know about your criteria, we will set you up onto an auto-email linked directly with the MLS. This will provide you with notification of new listings that match your wants and needs soon after they go live on the market.
Drive Around
As you start to narrow down the type of home you’re really looking to move into, drive around the neighborhoods that those homes are in to help you narrow down your choices even better. While you might fall in love with a home’s interior photos, if the neighbor is an avid garden gnome collector and has a nightmare-inducing lawn, you probably won’t be interested in living there after all.
Go on Home Tours
When you’ve found a home that matches all of your criteria in the neighborhood you desire, we will take you inside for a tour! Once you pick the homes you want to see, we will schedule the showings. Most homes offer a flexible showing schedule and some will even host an Open House.
We will collect as much information about the house that we can to help you learn all the ins-and-outs of your potential new home. We can also contact the listing agent for more details if you have specific questions.
The Home Buying process timeline is hard to guarantee. With the high buyer demand in Hampton Roads right now, it is taking our buyer’s a number of submitted offers on different properties before they finally win. This is all part of the journey however, so we will continue to roll with the punches until we get you into your dream home!
If you’re ready to start, we recommend Andrew Jordan with Towne Bank Mortgage to get you your pre-approval letter. The Thompson Team has trusted him with hundreds of transactions and we’ve worked closely alongside each other for many years. Then, get in touch with us to start your home search!
