Buyer's Resources

1. Determine Your Budget

Determining your budget is the first step as everything else follows from there. Do you plan to get a loan? If so, you will want to get a pre-approval letter from a lender that will tell you exactly how much you can spend on a house. I am happy to refer you to one or more lenders if you need one. You will also need to determine how much cash you’ll need to have in the bank. This will be used to cover: a) your downpayment (at least 20% of the purchase price), b) closing costs, and c) any appraisal gap (if you offer $1,000,000 for the house and it appraises for $980,000, the lender will only lend on the appraised value and so you will need to pay the $20,000 “gap” with cash out of pocket.)

3. Go to Open Houses

Once you know your budget and target locations, you can start going to open houses. I can put you on an auto-alert that will send you relevant homes. I am happy to accompany you to open houses, if you like, or to show you homes by appointment. If you generally like what you are seeing, fantastic! You can begin to hone in on the exact things you like: home style, lot size, street, neighborhood, etc. If you’re not crazy about what you’re seeing, you may need to revisit either budget or location. If that’s not possible, then start to get clear about your “must haves” vs “nice to haves” and focus on what is truly most important to you. It can take some exploring to find the sweet spot for house/location/price, but it’s all part of the process and if you stick with it, you will find a great home in the end.