Buying your new home is a serious venture but should also be an exciting experience! Your house is not just your home—it’s a big investment in the dwelling, the area and your future.

If you’re thinking of buying a home, take these 3 steps:

1. Talk to a lender

   No matter how much you think you can afford to pay monthly for a mortgage, it’s not up to you how much you can spend on a house. Many things come into play, such as your debt-to-income ratio, credit score, credit history, and other monthly payment obligations such as car payments or child support payments. A lender will worth through all of this and determine how much money home you can “afford.”

2. Figure out your own budget

   After chatting with your lender to find out how much you can afford, take a look at your own household budget to decide how much you want to spend each month. Just because a lender approves you for spending $450,000 on a house doesn’t mean you have to, nor that you should. You may discover that monthly payments on a $400,000 house are much more comfortable for you.

3. Decide what’s important

   If you and a partner are buying a house together, sit down and chat about what you both want in a home and what your deal-breakers are. Other than the obvious (i.e. Nuer of bedrooms and baths), here are a few other things to consider:

   • Commute time

   • Local schools

   • Nearby amenities

   • Do you want to live in a community with an HOA?

   • Property taxes

If you’re having trouble deciding what’s most important, we can help. We’ve worked with hundreds of buyers and have a tried-and-true method for helping narrow down the list to keep you focused on choosing a great place to live!

As your Realtors®, it’s our job to help guide you through the entire process. We may not have all the answers, but we’ll certainly find them for you! We’ve worked with hundreds of buyers and there are no stupid questions—rest assured that at least one other person has asked the same thing!