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I will be a first time buyer and have been looking around at houses in neighborhoods, pricing and mortgage rates as well as reading all I can on what to do when buying a home for the first time. However, I'm still confused about the order of doing things, even with all I've read. So I'm wondering if someone would be able to share when each "step" is taken. For example, am I supposed to get a pre-approval and then hire a buyers agent to look at homes, then shop for a lender after putting in an offer? Am I supposed to get a buyers agent before the pre-approval? Would I have to find a house I want during the 45 days that the pre-approval is good for? Please help!
Get your Realtor first, then get a pre-approval, shop for homes then officially apply.
Note, when you get your pre-approval you will supply all of your documentation to your lender at that time (pay stubs, tax returns, credit etc). If the LO doesn't ask for the documentation, run away - get another lender. A 'credit only' pre-approval is worthless for serious buyers.
Your Realtor ought to have at least a few good LO's to give you. Check with friends and family too.
I personally, looked months at homes. When I was ready to move forward, I applied for the mortgage, got the pre-approval, reached out to the lenders preferred realtor to get cash back after I close. Then I looked again at houses, chose one, signed contract, did the inspection with radon. They wanted me to pay half of radon, we went our separate ways. I found an even better house the same day and started the contract stuff all over and hopefully only extended my close date by a few days. I went from a difficult seller to an easy going one in a matter of hours. Lol
Thanks for the information everyone. Since it seems that pre-approvals only last for a certain period of time, would that mean I only have that amount of time to find a home and shop for a lender so that all the inquiries would only count as one?
I also read somewhere that some agents won't even start working with a potential buyer unless there is a pre-approval in hand- is this true?
Also, where would I find a place that has a course for first time buyers? I've never heard of this except with one of the loan type program that offers this where the course is mandatory to purchase the home. However, after looking at that program, it didn't seem appealing for me to go with that program.
Thanks Themizlyne! That actually helps a lot. I was also able to find a workshop around here too that I'll be attending at the end of the month.