If you were to pull together a list of the major milestones people love celebrating, you’d find buying your first home is definitely up there. In fact, we’d put it in the top five. The problem is, it’s also nestled in their top five most terrifying financial fears, and we can totally understand why. But just because it’s known to be complicated, stressful and scary doesn’t mean it has to be. It just means you need to have a solid understanding of the home-buying process and how you can take control of each step better.
That’s where we come in. We’re by no means specialists. Not at all. But we have been through it and so have a bunch of people we know. So we all put our heads together and created this super-handy step-by-step checklist. Trust us: it will make the whole house-buying thing way easier to navigate.
Know What You Can Afford
This one should come as no shock because, whenever you’re approaching a massive financial decision, the very first thing you need to do is determine your budget. Always. And buying a home is no exception.
Find The Best Mortgage For You
Once you’ve crunched the numbers and come up with an absolute maximum, you need to start hunting for a mortgage; one that is best for you. As a starting point, there are two things you want to look for: a great reputation on the customer service front and a history of closing quickly.
Must-Haves & Nice Extras
You will have to have been born with some ridiculous amounts of luck to stumble across the perfect home within your budget. That’s to say, it’s unlikely. So, before you start the house hunt, sit down and make a list of all the things you absolutely want and need in a home, and a list of things that are nicer to have. It will help you know when you’ve found the one. There will be things you can easily repurpose that you have so don’t waste anything if you can.
Call In The Professionals
There is absolutely nothing saying you have to do this, but we would recommend you call in a few experts to help you through the process. First off, you’ll want to find an estate agent to help you through each step (and give you access to houses not on the market) and a firm to provide high-quality surveys so you don’t get walloped with a nasty surprise. There’s enough stress without making it worse for yourself.
Grab Some Insurance
A lot of the time, any lender you go with will require the name of the insurance agency providing your cover, so make sure you are shopping around for a quote as early as you can during the house hunt process.
Throw Down An Offer
You might find the house you’ve been looking for on the first go, or you might have seen twenty others before. Either way, once you’ve fallen in love with a house within your budget, and one that meets all your needs and some of your wants, it’s time to make an offer. Sure, this is by no means the end of the line, but it is the first step in securing your first home without all the usual stress.