Tips for buying your first home ...by Betty White.

If you are thinking whether you should buy a home or continue to rent your place, we advise you to consider buying your first home, your first property. In case you have already decided that you want to buy your new home and invest in your future, we gathered some tips for buying your first property. We hope that they will help you to avoid some common mistakes and make your experience better.

Think about hiring an agent

This is the first thing you should consider when you are deciding about your next move. If you are still having doubts and thinking that you should rent instead of buying, you can ask an agent all the questions. The agent can help you by showing some properties that are currently on market.

Hire a real estate agent! / a person pointing a finger

When you hire an agent to help you to buy your first property, they can guide you through the whole process. A good real estate agent will be able to show you properties that fit your requirements. Also, a good agent will tell you if you are looking at some overpriced property and what the real price is. When it comes to open houses, you can go and check a house or your agent can go instead of you.

Do not hurry with buying your first property!

A lot of people see one house and they like it and they want to buy it instantly. And, we can honestly tell you that is a mistake. You need to think about a couple of factors before making such a rushed decision. You have to think about a mortgage, about the moving process and making plans on how to do it properly.

Do not go and see too many houses in one day. It will only make your head spin, and you will not be sure what you actually saw. According to some research, it takes between 5 and 8 weeks for a buyer to select the right neighborhood. After that, the buyer goes to 2-4 different houses and decides, to buy. So, do not hurry. Take your time! Just browse through the offer!

Getting a loan

Although you might think this shouldn’t be done so early, actually, you need to do it in the early stages of buying your first property. A lot of people will tell you not to do this before you actually buy a house. But, to be honest, this way, if you get pre-approval, you might raise your chances when you are buying a home and browsing through the offers.

You should really think about asking your agent for advice, They can recommend you a good mortgage broker. A popular first-time buyer loan is FHA loan. This loan is guaranteed by U.S. Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

Getting a loan isn’t an easy task, so take time to plan it / money on the envelope

Think about your budget

When it comes to buying your first property, think about your budget. You need to determine how much you are willing to spend. Also, you should go to your bank and check your options. Depending on your income, you can get different loans that can be paid over a course of 15 to 30 years. There are a lot of ways how you can save money as a first-time buyer.

Check and plan your mortgage

You can apply the same rule here. Do not hurry with getting the loan. Compare mortgage rates from different lenders. Also, always check if there are any state and local programs that can help you with the purchase. If you compare offers from 3 different lenders, you can be sure that you will save more than $3500 just in the first 5 years.

Pre-approval letter

This is a great thing for first-time-buyers. A lot of sellers now request that you have this when you are putting an offer. This is just the way to know how much money the lender will be able to lend you based on your income and possible debts.

Your pre-approval letter from a lender can help you when you are buying a house /  person signing a document

Also, the lender will check your finances thoroughly and you will know exactly what you can buy. And, as we mentioned you will look much more serious to the buyer.

Negotiate!

A lot of people that are buying their first property make this mistake. They do not negotiate the price. Also, you can make an even worse mistake by comparing prices of similar houses. The seller can put any price they want, that doesn’t mean that they will actually get that money.

Also, your agent should be able to give you comparable sales advice. This means that they can provide you with a information about houses sold in the last 3 months, that were similar to the one you want to buy.

Also, when we are talking about negotiation, there is one more thing that you should negotiate as well. When you buy your first property, you will need a moving company. So, you need to look carefully and find someone that can give you a reasonable price. You can check for a free estimate with orangemover.com since they can give you all the information needed. You can also negotiate with them about the price and make sure that you are getting the best offer.

Don’t forget home inspection!

A home inspection is different from state to state. Don’t be afraid to ask about home inspection, after all, you are planning to buy this property. Just keep in mind that if the inspection finds some problems, that doesn't mean that the seller will be fixing them.

You can hire inspection and go with them, and pay attention very closely. At the same time, you can check the house and plan where you will place your belongings. If you agree to buy a house that has some issues, maybe you should put your belongings in a storage. That way, you will avoid damaging them in the process of repairing the house. And by doing this, you will definitely save some money.

Think about the future!

And we have one final advice - think about the future! Don't buy your first property just for today. You need to think about your plans, your future and buy a new home accordingly. You are getting a loan for a long period of time, so think about what you plan to change during that period!