First Time Buyers

You’re only a first-time home buyer once!

I’ve helped dozens of people move into their first homes. It’s a little different from buying your second, third, or twelfth home and there are a lot of things you’ll have to learn. Not to worry, I can guide you through it. Here’s some extra guidance I provide for first time home buyers.

We’ll run the numbers

The single most important factor is buying a home you can afford. We’ll go over your household budget and check your debt-to-income ratio. Your housing expenses should not exceed 30% of your income and 28% is ideal.

There may be special programs for first time buyers and we’ll talk about those as well. You may not need as large of a down payment as you might think.

There are lots of other costs associated with buying a home like closing costs, attorney’s fees, appraisals, home inspections, title insurance, etc… We’ll walk you through all those costs and help you to minimize them.

Mortgages

You always want to have pre-approval but in a market as hot as the Boston home market, you have to be prepared to move quickly. Sitting down with a mortgage broker early is key. They’ll go over what you will be allowed to spend.

New Home Wish List

Finding your first home is a lot about finding yourself. What will you do there? What’s most important to you. Once you have established your budget, you can start to see what sort of homes are in your price range.

Start with a list. What are the things that you have to have in your first home without question. Do you have to live in a certain neighborhood? Do you have to have bedroom set aside for those frequently visiting family members? Do you have to have room for pets to run around? Compile a list of the must-have features. Next make a list of the nice to haves. Things you’re willing to compromise on, but where you’d really like to see 4 out of 6 on this list. Be brutally honest and be willing to compromise and move quickly.

Now that you’ve found the Perfect Home

Now that you’ve found the one, put in an offer, crossed your fingers, paced the room until it’s finally accepted, we’ll walk you through all the remaining steps. These will include the home inspection, a little more negotiation, and then we’ll proceed to draw up the purchase and sell agreement. You’ll want a real estate attorney to look it over and you should be prepared to put a 5% payment in escrow until closing.

If this sounds like a lot. Don’t worry. We’ll walk you through it. Introduce you to nice folks who can help and we’ll make sure you find the perfect home!