Shopping for your new home should be a joyful and rewarding experience filled excitement as you dream about the potentialities of living in your new perfect space. The following is an action item list that will help keep stress at bay and keep you on track as you begin hunting for your new home.
☐ Know Your Credit Score.
Before you start looking at homes for sale, get your financial house in order. First, request your credit report from all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). Comb through each report to ensure it’s accurate — and fix any errors you spot!
Next, compile all the documents you may need to provide to a loan officer, including pay stubs, bank statements, and previous years’ tax returns.
☐ Work With A Skilled Real Estate Professional.
Every neighborhood has unique qualities that you want to be aware of before you buy. Hiring a real estate professional that is well-informed and who understands the differences in market value from one property to the next will help you avoid overpaying for a property.
☐ Get Pre-Approved Before You Start Shopping.
Pre-approval means you should be able to get the loan as long as nothing changes about your financial situation or your credit score. A pre-approval letter also helps when you want to compete with another buyer for a home you love. Sellers want to feel comfortable knowing the buyer is not going to get turned down for the loan. Buyers should understand there is a difference between a mortgage pre-approval and a pre-qualification. In order to get pre-approved lenders will verify employment, income and credit. Oftentimes this is not the case with a pre-qualification.
☐ Don’t Do Anything To Affect Your Financial Situation.
Your pre-approval is based on the information given at the time of your application. Any changes, like getting a different job or taking out a car loan, can result in denial of the loan request when you go to purchase a house. Making a large purchase is not a prudent thing to do when buying a home. This is one of the major reasons buyers can be denied a mortgage after being pre-approved. This is not a pleasant experience!
☐ Make a shopping list
As you get deeper into the process, it can be tough to keep your priorities straight. The more homes you see, the more you can lose track of what really matters.
Yes, that home has a gourmet kitchen with stainless steel appliances. But it’s $75,000 above the comfortable high in your price range — worth it? That’s where this section of the home buying checklist comes into play: the home-shopping list. Take a few hours to hone in on exactly what constitutes a “must-have” item in your new home and then expand upon those points to determine what might constitute your “nice-to-have” and “dream features.”
☐ Start house hunting!
Now that you’ve completed all preliminary steps on the home buying checklist, you’re ready to start searching. Online listings are a great place to start. Visit open houses and work with your agent to schedule private showings.