Preparation is key! Before jumping into finding the right house, it’s important to check your financial preparedness.

To find the best mortgage lender, you should consider different options–your bank, a local credit union, online lenders, and more. Ask about rates, loan terms, down payment requirements, closing costs, and other fees. You can compare these details on each offer and decide which one to move forward with.

Once preapproved, your lender will issue a preapproval letter. This letter indicates to real estate agents and home sellers that you're financially able to buy a home.

There are a lot of Realtors out there, so finding the right one will greatly impact your buying experience. Your realtor should help you find and look at homes, make competitive offers, and negotiate with sellers.

A great way to know if a Realtor will meet your needs is by looking at their recent reviews, client testimonies, and speaking directly with them to learn more about how they can help you.

Be sure to discuss with your significant other and/or other people who will be moving into the house what you want in a house. Location, size, floor plan, and school districts are a few things to think about when making a list of characteristics of your “Dream House”.

Your Realtor should work with you to find houses that fit as many of those traits as possible.

There are many steps in the home buying process, but few are as vital as the home inspection.

A professional home inspection can offer reassurance by showing you any potential problems before closing on a home. Hire a general contractor or home inspector to inspect all major house systems from top to bottom, including the roof, plumbing, electrical and heating systems, foundation, and drainage.

If an inspection unearths problems, you can negotiate with the seller to lower the home’s price, arrange for repairs before closing, or cancel the sale if there’s a big enough problem with the home.

An appraisal is an estimate of how much your property is worth. Mortgage lenders use appraisals to make sure the home is worth the amount they’re lending to you. A home appraiser will take visible defects into account–a roof that’s caved in, the fact that the home doesn’t have a working plumbing system, and whatnot–but appraisers don’t look for specific problems. Instead, an appraiser will look for an overall value to assign to the property.

Getting an insurance policy set up for your house can help protect you from any unforeseen circumstances. You can learn more about some frequently asked questions regarding home insurance on our Insurance page.

Time to pop the champaign and get a new keychain! Closing is the final phase of mortgage loan processing where the property title passes from the seller to the buyer.

Your closing date is the day you become the legal owner of your new home. During the contract negotiation phase, you and the seller will set a closing date.

On closing day, you’ll pay any remaining closing costs as listed in your Closing Disclosure. Then, the seller will sign documents to transfer property ownership, and the title company will go on to register the new deed in your name.

When looking for the right Realtor, be sure to get a feel for if they will meet your needs. What marketing do they plan on doing? Will they fight for what you need? Will they go above the bare minimum when taking care of you as a client? Things like that will greatly impact your selling experience.

The right Realtor will advise you on what repairs you should expect to make before putting your home on the market.

Some things are simple, like touching up any chipped paint and deep cleaning, and some things might be more extensive.

Your Realtor will help you set the asking price of your home using their training, understanding of the market, and comparable sales.

Then, your Realtor can market your home using strategies like open houses, digital listings, video walk-throughs, and more.