Buying a Home for The First Time Vibrant Living ~Inspired Home, Inspired Life~

Planning to buy a new house, but uncertain about the process? Afraid that you might miss something important? Here's the comprehensive guide to getting you to the offer table, hassle-free. You've just landed on the right page, so please keep reading. In this week's episode, Nina Hermann talks about buying a home for the first time.
Part One of ‘Buying a Home for The First Time’
How do you plan to buy this home? Cash or with a mortgage? If you plan for a mortgage, there are a few more steps involved. Start identifying how much money you have for your down payment. If you don't have any, start looking at a plan to build that nest egg. 
Look at your credit score. Is it a credit score that a mortgage lender would want? If not, you'll want to start taking steps to improve your credit score. Sometimes it can take up to a year to make that happen.
Plan ahead if you want to get pre-approved. You want to meet with a few different mortgage lenders and identify what you can spend on your new home. Just because you're approved for a certain amount doesn't necessarily mean that's what you need to spend. Finances are a massive stressor, so you must be comfortable with your payments and satisfied with the amount of money that you're spending. But having that amount ahead of time and knowing what you can spend is helpful when you go and look at properties to make sure that you're not looking at properties that you can't afford.
“Keep in mind what is important to you and what may be important to the other party.” — Nina Hermann (09:18-09:24)
Identify what you want in your home and be very specific. How many bedrooms and bathrooms? Do you like the outdoors? Do you want a pool? Do you want an outdoor kitchen? An office? Maybe you work from home and you want a separate office or a bonus room for the kids. What kind of features do you want that support the lifestyle for you and your family?
 
Consider activities around the home that support your lifestyle. What do you enjoy doing that your family enjoys too? It also involves your community. What kind of society do you want to be a part of? What amenities do you like? 
You would love for every single little thing on your criteria list to come true. Sometimes that isn't the case. Prioritize what is non-negotiable. Identify those non-negotiables so you can easily eliminate what’s not going to work. Prioritize what's on your criteria list. Identifying those things upfront helps determine what home is perfect for you. Once you have identified that criteria, you want to prioritize it.
Part Two of ‘Buying a Home for The First Time’
Find an agent that you can trust. One who will listen to what your desires and needs are. A seller is responsible for paying the commission of the buyer agent. Your agent should assist you in finding that perfect home, or you're not responsible for paying them.
Whatever house you decide to buy, the seller of that home is paying the commission. In some cases, part of the negotiation process may change that. In general, the seller is responsible for paying the commission to the buyer's agent. Some brokerages do have a transaction fee. This is a small nominal fee that would be charged to you as a buyer that would be taken out at closing.
 
It's not an upfront fee. Sometimes it's negotiable. Sometimes the agents may decide to make a deal with you. There are brokerages out there who do not charge a transactional fee.
 
After you've found that agent, you want to set up a time to go through your criteria list. You want to make sure that they know exactly what you want. The multiple listing service, also known as the MLS, is great, but it is not perfect. There are filters that can help in the search process. Sometimes it requires additional information or research.
You either have to go through photos, call the agent, the community or do more digging to identify those things. Sometimes you may find a property that you think may work. Then, it t