Today we’re going to be discussing the first time home buyer process, and what that all involves in the Appleton, Wisconsin area, or any of the surrounding communities. When you’re looking at buying your first house I believe it is best to get informed on what takes place so you know exactly what to expect!
But before I get started, I want to let you know that you can check out all the other videos in this video library to see if they can be of resource to you. I dive into topics such as how to pick a real estate agent, everything you need to know about buying your first house, and then just some nice tips and tricks to get the best deal on your next property.
Breakdown of the Home Buying Process
Step 1
The first thing you want to do is get an idea on what you can afford. I am not referring to looking at the home search websites & seeing if you are comfortable with the monthly calculated payment. Step number one would be talking with your local mortgage lender. And if you’re looking for a local mortgage lender, click the link down below. I’ve linked to the lender that I use. His name’s Jesse, and he’s with Intlanta Mortgage out of the Appleton area, & does a phenomenal job and has a ton of different mortgage options.
Mortgage Pre Approval Click Here >>
They will need to pull credit when they do an official pre-approval, but if you just want to start the conversation with a mortgage lender to see what your loan payments would be, they can do a preliminary report without pulling any sort of credit, and they can go off the credit score that you tell them.
Note: A pre-approval letter is good for 90 days. After 90 days the lender does need to re-pull your credit history & this can drop your score. Just be careful with this when starting the process!
Step 2
Get familiar with the types of and styles of houses that you like. Once you have an idea on a price point, then you can start looking on realtor.com. Go and search in their filter area. Maybe you want to stay in Appleton, maybe you want to stay in Neenah or Menasha. Go to those communities, put in your price point, and I would recommend putting in a price range, and then say, “Okay, well I want a three bedroom house,” or, “I want a five bedroom house.” Can you afford homes in that price point? And it’ll give you an idea on what’s actually available.
Like I had mentioned in previous videos/articles, if a home has “contingent” on it on realtor.com, that means that it already as an accepted offer, and it will most likely go to closing.
Note: The normal closing process is about a 45 day time span between acceptance of an offer & actual closing date.
Step 3
If you find a house that you’re interested in or you just want to learn a little bit more, meet with a local realtor to take a look at it. (get a referral from a family member, or even give me a call or fill out the form on my website)
If I can help you in your home search that would be amazing! And that’s why I provide all of these videos, to provide content to you, the potential home buyer, so you know exactly what you’re doing, you don’t have any questions, and you’re not surprised at any point through the transaction.
I try and be as resourceful as possible without taking time, energy, and effort away from you. And if you see a house that you like, reach out and ask to schedule a showing at their soonest convenience, and then we can go take a look at it in person.
Step 4
If you like the house, the next step after that would be to write an offer. You can either sit down with them, write an offer, do a Zoom call with them, which is an online video chat platform where they can share their screen with you and go over everything, or they can send it to you digitally, and you can click and do an electronic signature platform, which is also extremely convenient. I don’t want to get into the nitty gritty of writing an offer in this blog but here is a link to a video I did of walking you through the actual buying contract!
Link to Offer to Purchase Contract Video >>
Step 5
And then the final step is once that offer either gets accepted, rejected, or countered, hopefully accepted, you would move on to the closing process. I will not detail that in this video because it is more complicated and time consuming, but I hope this opened your eyes. Hopefully this was insightful to what the first time home buyer process looks like.
How Can I Help?
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. Submit information on the form down below, or give me a call or text on my phone number, which is (920) 252-2864. I wish you guys all the best, and if I can ever do anything to help, just let me know. Have a great day.
Similar Articles People Are Reading…
Average Price of a Starter Home
How to Qualify For a Home Loan
Buying Your First Rental Property
Landlording 101: Renting Out a Duplex
Video Transcription
Hey, you guys. Curter here with Century 21 Affiliated. And today we’re going to be discussing the first time home buyer process, and what that all involves in the Appleton, Wisconsin area, or any of the surrounding communities.
But before I get started, I want to let you know that you can check out all the other videos in this video library to see if they can be of resource to you. I dive into topics such as how to pick a real estate agent, everything you need to know about buying your first house, and then just some nice tips and tricks to get the best deal on your next property.
But let’s jump on into buying your first house and the first time home buyer process.
What is step number one in the first time home buyer process? Ultimately it’s to get an idea on what you can afford. Are you able to qualify for a house? Step number one would be talking with your local mortgage lender, or someone, they might not even need to be local at this point because everything can be done online if you so choose. And if you’re looking for a local mortgage lender, click the link down below. I’ve linked to the lender that I use. His name’s Jesse, and he’s with in Atlanta Mortgage out of the Appleton area, does a phenomenal job and has a ton of different mortgage options.
But that is the first step, is to get preapproved to see how much you can actually afford. Of course they do need to pull credit when they do an official preapproval, but if you just want to start the conversation with a mortgage lender to see what your loan payments would be, they can do a preliminary report without pulling any sort of credit, and they can go off the credit score that you tell them.
An example, just go to creditkarma.com and you can get a free credit score, and then they can use that as a reference point. So that’s step number one, getting preapproved.
Step number two is to just get familiar with the types of and styles of houses that you like. Once you have an idea on a price point, then you can start looking on realtor.com. Go and search in their filter area. Maybe you want to stay in Appleton, maybe you want to stay in Neenah or Menasha. Go to those communities, put in your price point, and I would recommend putting in a price range, and then say, “Okay, well I want a three bedroom house,” or, “I want a five bedroom house.” Can you afford homes in that price point? And it’ll give you an idea on what’s actually available.
Like I had mentioned in a previous video, if a home has contingent on it on realtor.com, that means that it already as an accepted offer, and it will most likely go to closing. And there is a process in between. It’s about a 45 day time span between those things. So those are the first two steps in the first time home buyer process.
The next step, if you find a house that you’re interested in or you just want to learn a little bit more, meet with a local realtor, get a referral from a family member, or even give me a call or fill out the form on my website. I would love to help you guys. And that’s why I provide all of these videos, to provide content to you, the potential home buyer, so you know exactly what you’re doing, you don’t have any questions, and you’re not surprised at any point through the transaction.
I try and be as resourceful as possible without taking time, energy, and effort away from you. And if you see a house that you like, reach out to a real estate agent, ask them to schedule a showing at their soonest convenience, and then you guys can go take a look at it in person.
If you like the house, the next step after that would be to write an offer. You can either sit down with them, write an offer, do a Zoom call with them, which is an online video chat platform where they can share their screen with you and go over everything, or they can send it to you digitally, and you can click and do an electronic signature platform, which is also extremely convenient. So that would be the next step, would be writing an offer.
And then the final step is once that offer either gets accepted, rejected, or countered, hopefully accepted, you would move on to the closing process. I will not detail that in this video because it is more complicated and time consuming, but I hope this opened your eyes. Hope it was insightful to what the first time home buyer process looks like. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. Submit information on the form down below, or give me a call or text on my phone number, which is (920) 252-2864. I wish you guys all the best, and if I can ever do anything to help, just let me know. Have a great day.