Buying Your First House In 60 Days

[Preston Dean]

I realize that there are just as many first time home buyers on this website as there are first time investors so I wanted to provide this for those too afraid to ask the questions!

Step1: get a pre-approval letter from a lender. this pre-approval will tell you how much of a monthly payment you can afford and will give you a purchase price to stay under (60-75 days out)

Step2: find a realtor to begin working with. if you don’t know a realtor, ask around! if someone you know recently bought a house ask who they used (45-60 days out)

Step3: begin house hunting! have your realtor set up showings. also go to open houses! find what you really like & don’t like about a home (30-60 days out)

Step4: make offers on homes and negotiate the terms - by this point you should be ready to close and move into your new home in the next 30-60 days.

Step5: get your offer accepted! just because a house is listed for $250,000 doesn’t mean that is what you should offer. Make sure your realtor runs comps (comparables)so you’re not over paying for a home.(30-45 days out)

Step6: once you are under contract the inspections begin! your realtor should point you in the direction for a few recommendations for inspectors. there are some free inspections out there so take advantage of those too! (p.s. if you are buying an existing home expect there to be problems. no home is perfect)(30 days out)

Step7: After inspections you and your realtor need to sit down and begin the negotiations. nothing is off the table here! Asking the sellers to repair the whole roof is quite common, sometimes their insurance company will repair it for them! *reminder if you are uncomfortable with anything up to this point you can back out and get your money back (most of it)(21-30days out)

Step8: at This point you need to get back in touch with your lender and make sure they still have everything they need from you. don’t make any large purchases or open any new accounts or you could lose the home. (14-21 days out)

Step 9: appraisal... not a lot will happen between the day inspections end & the appraisal. The biggest thing you need to know is if you offered $250,000 and the appraisal comes in at $240,000, you or the seller or both of you will have to come up with the $10K gap. this can be scary but making sure your realtor runs proper comps in the beginning can help save you from this! (this does not apply to FHA or VA loans) (4-14 days out)

Step10: cleared to close! the 3 words everyone in real estate loves to hear! you are done! you are now cleared to close and will be signing all the necessary documents soon!