While I fully admit that looking at homes and shopping for a home is the most fun part of the home-buying process, it's not the first step in the process. There are several simple and strategic reasons why skipping the first couple steps in the process can lead to a much more frustrating, drawn out, and ultimately a more stressful experience. Everyone wants to avoid that! So what are the first couple steps you might be asking yourself...
The first step I'll keep simple so as to avoid sounding like a commercial for myself. Schedule a consultation with a local, expert Realtor. Simple, right? The second step is to get pre-qualified with a recommended lender or broker. I know it doesn't sound exciting and it's definitely not as visually stimulating as checking out new potential homes. At the end of the day, when you make an offer on a house, your offer must be accompanied by a pre-qualification letter to be considered serious.
Here's why this is important:
- It doesn't matter how much of a Buyers' or Sellers' market it is. Houses can go under contract in the blink of an eye. There's nothing more disappointing than seeing a house, falling in love and then taking a day or two to
get pre-qualified only to find out that during that time, another offer was accepted by the Sellers. Nothing more disappointing, right? Not so fast...
- The ultimate disappointment is checking out a bunch of houses, falling in love with one, you start envisioning your life in the house, start thinking about what kind of an offer you want to make and then find out you can't afford it. Tragic...seriously! Not only are you obviously disappointed that your dreams were just dreams and not a reality, but now you inevitably will comparing the next round of homes (that you can comfortably afford) to homes that you can't. Nothing like feeling like you're "settling" on a home when you're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, right? Not convinced yet?
- Getting pre-qualified provides clarity and is empowering! The confidence you get from walking up to a house and before you even open the door you KNOW that if you love what's behind that door, you know not only that you can afford it, but also exactly how financially everything works. What your downpayment looks like, what your closing costs are, how your payment breakdown is derived. Clarity at last!
