Everything A First-Time Home Buyer Needs to Know

One of the benefits of having a realtor is that they will help guide you throughout the home buying process. There are two types of realtors: A seller’s agent and a buyer’s agent. If you’re home shopping without a realtor, a seller’s agent can represent both sides of the transaction and serve as a single intermediary between you (the buyer) and the seller. However, the agent representing both sides has a contractual obligation to represent the seller’s best interest and NOT yours. The agent representing both sides can help you write an offer on the house and make it a seamless process. However, a manifestation of serving the seller’s best interest may show itself with leaving out important contingencies, like financing or appraisal contingency in the offer. A buyer’s agent is a realtor representing your best interest. They can help write an offer and put in the recommended contingencies. All in all, they will help you along the way and relieve some stress of doing it all yourself. If you don’t have a buyers agent yet, we can help you find one when you start your pre-approval process.

We’ve written about writing great offers in our Home Purchase Learning Center. We’ve also recommended giving yourself enough time to do an appraisal and financing contingency. Writing a successful offer is where an experienced and seasoned realtor can really shine. They can make this process seamless while protecting your interests as a buyer. As we mentioned before, writing an offer without a buyer’s agent will leave the seller’s agent helping you write your offer. The seller’s agent has to keep the seller’s best interest in mind and that may express itself in the contingencies included and excluded from the offer. In general, you should have contingencies for Inspection, Appraisal, and Financing.

When you receive your accepted offer, it is absolutely imperative to give your loan officer a phone call that same day because the clock starts ticking immediately. The loan officer will collect any additional information, re-access your credit report (if needed), build an updated list of documents for you to provide (W2’s, pay stubs, bank statements, etc) and send over paperwork for signature. We’ll also get your appraisal ordered right away so we don’t lose any days on receiving an appraisal. We are battling against both the appraisal contingency and the financing contingency, so it is important to start right away. Your part in this will be getting us the necessary documentation as soon as possible.

Once you send in all the required documentation we can send your information to the underwriter. The underwriter looks at all the documentation and verifies the information we have collected. The underwriter can ask for more information if they need to trace back a large deposit or verify more income. Every transaction is a little bit different and we are typically able to get the underwriter all or almost all of the required information in the first go. However, if the underwriter does request more documentation, we will contact you. It is very important to send in these documents as quickly as possible because every day is valuable in a purchase transaction.

This is the day everyone has been waiting for. After months of searching for the perfect home, you can now take a big sigh of release, pop some bubbly and say to yourself, “I’m officially a homeowner”.

Buying your first home may seem overwhelming at first, which is why we make sure new buyers know what to expect during the home buying process. Owning a home has several financial and emotional benefits. We take pride in helping first-time homebuyers get the best rate on their loan. Call now and let us help you take the next step toward buying your first home today.