Buyer's Guide

A Step-By-Step First Time Buyer's Guide

Buying a home is one of the most exciting milestones of your life. To prepare yourself for this moment, you need to know what to expect during the process. This step-by-step first time buyer’s guide created by your agent will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

Step 1: Research

Do you already know where you want to buy? If you want a condo, townhome, or single-family home? Which features do you like and dislike? What’s available on the market now? If you answered no to any of these questions, now is the time to start researching. In addition to looking for homes that interest you, also take note of any changes in asking prices. This could give you valuable insight into housing trends in specific neighborhoods and help you when the time comes to make an offer.

Step 2: Decide on Your Budget

Notice I said to decide on your budget—not determine how much the mortgage company will give you. In many cases, a mortgage company will pre-approve you for more than you’re comfortable spending, which is why you need to determine the monthly payment you feel comfortable with before talking to a lender. This likely includes doing a full household budget and taking into consideration what changes other than a mortgage payment will occur once you move into your new home. If you’ve lived in an apartment or with roommates, you may overlook new expenses like garbage, water, or HOA fees that could easily blow your budget.

Step 3: Get Prequalified

Just because you think you can afford a certain payment every month doesn’t mean the mortgage company will agree. Just as they may approve you for too large of an amount, they may also approve you for a lesser amount or deny you a mortgage altogether. Lack of time at a job, insufficient credit, past bankruptcies, or other financial issues can cause major problems when trying to secure a mortgage. Before you get your heart set on a home, talk to a mortgage professional to find out what amount you can qualify for. This will also be an advantage when you make an offer on a home, as some sellers won’t entertain offers from those who aren’t already prequalified for a loan.

Step 4: Choose a Real Estate Agent

Can you shop for, look at, and ultimately make an offer on a home without a real estate agent? Technically yes, but why would you when it costs you nothing for an agent like me to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will I help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but I also have a knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where my expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let me show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

My goal is to provide you with the most personalized service that is designed to help you buy your dream home

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Step 5: Find the Right Home

This should be the most enjoyable step of the entire process (other than moving in!). I will arrange showings of homes you’re interested in that are within your price range. Take notes about what you like and don’t like, and make sure to pay attention to details. Turn light switches on and off, open and close doors, and run the faucets in various rooms. Don’t limit your inspection to the home itself. Make sure to take time to explore the neighborhood and keep an eye on traffic at certain times of the day, the parking situation, and how close it is to necessities like schools and grocery stores.

Step 6: Make an Offer

Once you have selected the perfect home, work with your agent to craft a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes on the market. Depending on what the home is listed at and whether the current environment is a buyer’s or seller’s market, your offer may be below, at, or even above the asking price. I will be able to help you negotiate if you receive a counteroffer and reach an agreement. At this point, the house will go into escrow.

Step 7: Have the Home Inspected

In most cases, your offer will be contingent on having the home inspected to ensure there is no major structural damage or large repairs needed. I can help you arrange this, and you can schedule it within days of making an offer. If there are no major issues, the process goes to step eight. If there is, you can renegotiate your offer based on what needs to be fixed, or you can withdraw it.

Step 8: Select Your Loan

Now is the time to go back to the mortgage lender who pre-approved or pre-qualified you and choose your mortgage. You will be presented with various options based on your unique financial situation, including fixed-rate, variable-rate, 15-year, 30-year, or special programs such as VA loans or FHA loans. Work with your mortgage lender to select the option you feel the most comfortable with.

Step 9: Get a Home Appraisal

Your lender will have your new home appraised so they have their independent value of it. The appraisal is to ensure that all parties involved are paying a fair price for the house.

Step 10: Finish Paperwork

No one looks forward to all the paperwork involved in buying a home, but it’s a necessary part of the process. Fortunately, everything will be arranged by your lender and title company and, when you’re finished, you’ll know you are the legal owner of your new home.

Congratulations!

After signing the final paperwork to complete the purchase, you are now the owner of a new house. It may take a few days for your loan to be funded once the paperwork has been returned to the lender, but once that check is delivered to the seller, you’ll be all set to move into the home of your dreams.

Testimonials

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Kathleen P.

Michelle has been wonderful helping us find, vet, and settle tenants into our home in San Francisco while living abroad. She is attentive and thorough throughout the entire process from start to finish. She goes the extra mile ...

Allison D.

Dear Michelle, Thank you so much for helping us find our first home. As first time buyers, shopping for a home is a daunting task. In the Bay area, this task can feel impossible. From our very first consultation, Michael and I ...

Rob V.

I am thankful to have met Michelle Kennedy. She was a sensible and strong hand in guiding me through the purchase process. I firmly believe that if it wasn't for her I would be still house hunting today. Her ability to focus on...

Josh Nasseri

My partner and I purchased our first home with Michelle Kennedy in September 2020. We met Michelle via a friend referral in 2019. We reconnected to kick off our 2020 house hunt. Michelle has a lot of good energy. She really lis...

Scott S.

Have worked with Michelle on a number of transactions since 2018 and highly recommend. Professional, knowledgeable and responsive!

Richard F.

Michelle brings a rare combination of intelligence, empathy, knowledge, and understanding, to her efforts when helping potential sellers or buyers of homes. My efforts to understand the entire house selling process would have b...

Michelle S.

Michelle is absolutely amazing! I cannot say enough great things about her. Not only is she super personable and friendly, but she is a fantastic realtor, too! She helped us sell our CA home, partially while we were in Virginia...

Jamie B.

If I could give 10 stars, I would! Michelle was such a wonderful partner for me and my family when searching for our new home in the Bay area. Michelle consistently went above and beyond the call of duty - she arranged several ...

Alanna V.

Michelle Kennedy is the most amazing realtor I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Initially, we weren’t sure of the location we wanted to buy into so we dragged Michelle all over the Bay Area in pursuit of our new home...

Casey M.

I can, without hesitation, recommend Michelle for both buy and sell-side transactions. She is a dedicated agent who will go out of her way to meet her client’s needs. She had wonderful, creative and cost-saving ideas for spruci...

John A.

I live in Colorado and I had a home in California that I needed to sell. After a bit of homework I chose Michelle to represent me. She is a true professional, ethically driven to do the right thing for her client. I felt, and c...

Ramesh P.

Michelle is a very professional, friendly, and thorough realtor to work with. She was extremely helpful in understanding our needs and tailoring the showings of properties accordingly. She is very patient and provides all the i...

Aliaksei I.

Such an incredible experience working with Michelle! Her professionalism and dedication protected us from most of the stress while searching for our perfect home. It's unbelievable how fast Michelle learned about our needs and ...

Cyndy C.

I can't say enough great things about working with Michelle! After a year and a half of searching in a very tight market, Michelle was always patient, laid-back, and never pushy. She went above and beyond, even working odd hour...

Barbara N.

We were fortunate to have Michelle Kennedy as our realtor. She worked diligently selling two complicated homes for us at the same time. Both homes were sold and escrow closed in thirty days. (That is with us asking for an extra...

Nancy M.

Michelle Kennedy is the ultimate professional. She assisted my sisters and I in the sale of not one but two homes for our Family. There was a lot of paperwork and a lot of things to be done to get the houses ready to sell. She ...

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