Thinking about buying a house?  Read this first.

Buying a home is one of the most important decisions a person can make, and can be a nerve wracking one if you don’t prepare for it.  The Catskill Country Living Team can help you through every step of this process.

Preparing Your Finances

The first step in the home buying process is to get your finances in order - you should pay off as much debt as possible, and build up your emergency fund. Banks will look at your debt-to-income ratio in the financing process, and will also want to see that you have enough of a cushion to cover expenses if an emergency should occur. You will also want to save for a down payment and closing costs. There are many types of loans out there with different requirements for down payments, including those designed specifically to help first-time home buyers. The gold standard, though, is 20% of the purchase price.

Pre-Qualified vs. Pre-Approved

Once you have gotten your financial house in order, you can begin the process of looking for an actual house! Your next step will be getting prequalified or preapproved for a loan. Mortgage prequalification is less formal and is only a general indication that you could be approved for a mortgage if you were to apply. It serves as an estimate of how much you may be able to borrow based on your income and budget. Mortgage preapproval, on the other hand, is a more complex process that requires submitting a formal loan application and providing documentation regarding your savings and other debt. When you are preapproved for a mortgage, it means a lender has reviewed your credit and has approved you for a specific mortgage loan amount. A preapproved buyer will be viewed by a seller as a stronger buyer. 

Getting Pre-Qualified

Taking the step to get prequalified or preapproved has several benefits. The first is that this process gives you a definite idea of how much house you can afford. There is nothing worse than falling in love with a house (or a neighborhood), only to find out that you can’t afford the payment. A prequalification or preapproval letter will let your buyer’s agent know what price range you should be looking in. The other benefit is in the offer and negotiation phase. Once you have found the perfect house and decide to submit an offer, the prequalified buyer, and especially the one who is preapproved, will have an advantage over any buyer who isn’t. When submitting an offer, especially in a competitive market where there may be multiple offers, being able to act quickly can be the difference between winning the deal or losing. A prequalified/preapproved buyer’s offer will look much stronger to a seller than one coming from a buyer who doesn’t know their financial picture. And more importantly, in strong competitive markets, many sellers will not even entertain an offer from an unqualified buyer.

The Value of A Buyer's Agent

So, you have done your financial work, you have your prequalification/preapproval letter, what next?  FIND THE RIGHT AGENT TO WORK WITH. You want a real estate agent who is knowledgeable of the market, makes time for you and understands your needs.  The Catskill Country Living Team takes a team approach to real estate and has a dedicated Buyers Specialist to help you. A buyers agent operates as a buyer’s advocate - your dedicated hands-on professional looking out for your best interests from day one until closing, and even afterwards. They are your expert on the particular issues in the buyer’s side of the transaction. And best of all, working with a buyer’s agent won’t cost you anything. No, buyer’s agents don’t work for free. But they also don’t get paid by the buyer. They get paid by the seller. Typically, the buyer’s agent and the seller’s agent will split the commission on a home sale.

Search for Your Dream Property

Your buyer’s agent guides you through the entire process: finding the right area, searching for homes that fit your wants, needs and budget, making an offer and navigating the closing process after an offer is accepted, and connecting you to related professional service providers at each step, even after closing. Your buyer’s agent will give you recommendations for attorneys, home inspectors, engineers— really anyone you may need to hire in the process, and they will be your point of contact through the entire transaction, ensuring the process goes as smoothly as possible.

Buying a home can seem daunting at first, but a good buyer's agent will streamline the process for you and ultimately help you make your dreams come true.