Buying Your Bellingham Home! Step by step help to get started!

What First steps do you take when it comes to searching and buying your next home in the great Pacific Northwest?

1: START HERE!!

 

 

    

 

 

 

2: Check your credit 

I have several contacts/lenders, that I could recommend for checking your credit score. You can also request a summary online (https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/get-my-free-credit-report)  (https://www.creditkarma.com/free-credit-report/)

3: Consult a lender….

Just as I have several Banker and Mortgage Broker contacts I can recommend for checking your credit score, so too can I recommend them for getting the best loan style that works for you! There are several programs available for people in all price or credit brackets, from VA loans, FHA loans to conventional. There are several down payment assistance programs that my buyers have used to get into their first time home as well.

 

4:Decide how much you want to spend. … 

The main purposes to meeting with a lender at the beginning of your home search is four fold. 1: Credit Score 2: Qualifying Amount 3: How much you want to spend 4: Getting Pre-Qualified! This will help in deciding what price range of homes we want to focus on, and when we do find the right home, we will know you are already qualified to purchase when we put an offer on the home you want. Sellers rarely want to take time in a hot real estate market to wait until AFTER an offer is accepted to see if you are qualified. There is to much competition for their property and they will simply take a more serious look at PRE-Qualified buyers first.

5: Familiarize yourself with the process of buying a home. 

One of the things I do with my customers is sit down at the begining of the buying home process and go over what to expect, including timelines and real estate terms/lingo that most consumers don’t traffic in. It can be very confusing, especially for first time home buyers! I also have a complete “Guide to Buying a Home” PDF that I give to my clients to go over when needed.

 

6: Start looking for your next home! 

Now you have set the ground work for doing the fun stuff, FINDING YOUR NEW HOME!!!!! Start by signing up for my automated email alerts on my home page (or in the option towards the top right of this page)! Enter the city, price range, bed/baths desired, and you will immediatly be sent email alerts when new listings that match your criteria come on market!

Those are the first steps to us working together to find your new home. Feel free to email/text/call me with any questions or to get your free “Ultimate Guide to Buying a Home”. Once we are finished with these steps, I will explaine (coming in my next blog post) what happens once we start the search to find the home of your dreams!