Buyer's Guide

A Step-by-Step First Time Buyer's Guide

Buying a home is one of the most exciting milestones of your life. To prepare yourself for this moment, you need to know what to expect during the process. This step-by-step first time buyer’s guide created by our team will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

Step 1: Research

Do you already know where you want to buy? If you want a condo, townhome, or single-family home? Which features do you like and dislike? What’s available on the market now? If you answered no to any of these questions, now is the time to start researching. In addition to looking for homes that interest you, also take note of any changes in asking prices. This could give you valuable insight into housing trends in specific neighborhoods and help you when the time comes to make an offer.

Step 2: Decide on Your Budget

Notice we said to decide on your budget—not determine how much the mortgage company will give you. In many cases, a mortgage company will pre-approve you for more than you’re comfortable spending, which is why you need to determine the monthly payment you feel comfortable with before talking to a lender. This likely includes doing a full household budget and taking into consideration what changes other than a mortgage payment will occur once you move into your new home. If you’ve lived in an apartment or with roommates, you may overlook new expenses like garbage, water, or HOA fees that could easily blow your budget.

Step 3: Get Prequalified

Just because you think you can afford a certain payment every month doesn’t mean the mortgage company will agree. Just as they may approve you for too large of an amount, they may also approve you for a lesser amount or deny you a mortgage altogether. Lack of time at a job, insufficient credit, past bankruptcies, or other financial issues can cause major problems when trying to secure a mortgage. Before you get your heart set on a home, talk to a mortgage professional to find out what amount you can qualify for. This will also be an advantage when you make an offer on a home, as some sellers won’t entertain offers from those who aren’t already prequalified for a loan.

Step 4: Choose a Real Estate Agent

Can you shop for, look at, and ultimately make an offer on a home without a Real Estate Agent? Technically yes, but why would you when it costs you nothing for agents like us to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will we help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but we also have knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where our expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let us show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

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Step 5: Find the Right Home

This should be the most enjoyable step of the entire process (other than moving in!). We will arrange showings of homes you’re interested in that are within your price range. Take notes about what you like and don’t like, and make sure to pay attention to details. Turn light switches on and off, open and close doors, and run the faucets in various rooms. Don’t limit your inspection to the home itself. Make sure to take time to explore the neighborhood and keep an eye on traffic at certain times of the day, the parking situation, and how close it is to necessities like schools and grocery stores.

Step 6: Make an Offer

Once you have selected the perfect home, work with your agent to craft a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes on the market. Depending on what the home is listed at and whether the current environment is a buyer’s or seller’s market, your offer may be below, at, or even above the asking price. We will be able to help you negotiate if you receive a counteroffer and reach an agreement. At this point, the house will go into escrow.

Step 7: Have the Home Inspected

In most cases, your offer will be contingent on having the home inspected to ensure there is no major structural damage or large repairs needed. We can help you arrange this, and you can schedule it within days of making an offer. If there are no major issues, the process goes to step eight. If there is, you can renegotiate your offer based on what needs to be fixed, or you can withdraw it.

Step 8: Select Your Loan

Now is the time to go back to the mortgage lender who pre-approved or pre-qualified you and choose your mortgage. You will be presented with various options based on your unique financial situation, including fixed-rate, variable-rate, 15-year, 30-year, or special programs such as VA loans or FHA loans. Work with your mortgage lender to select the option you feel the most comfortable with.

Step 9: Get a Home Appraisal

Your lender will have your new home appraised so they have their independent value of it. The appraisal is to ensure that all parties involved are paying a fair price for the house.

Step 10: Finish Paperwork

No one looks forward to all the paperwork involved in buying a home, but it’s a necessary part of the process. Fortunately, everything will be arranged by your lender and title company and, when you’re finished, you’ll know you are the legal owner of your new home.

Congratulations!

After signing the final paperwork to complete the purchase, you are now the owner of a new house. It may take a few days for your loan to be funded once the paperwork has been returned to the lender, but once that check is delivered to the seller, you’ll be all set to move into the home of your dreams.

Testimonials

Nader A.

Working with Holton to find our very first home was a great experience. We felt we had someone on our side that understood our needs. He presented facts on things with neutrality and offered his opinion when needed, allowing us...

Carl O.

The Irwin Collective has a dream team of real estate agents that are sharp, responsive, thinking of all the options for optimal results and understanding of your goals and needs. We were blessed to be teamed up with Tyler Gille...

Dylan D.

We had a great experience with Holton and Cathy. They were patient, knowledgeable, and always available to answer our questions. Their expertise and guidance made the entire process smooth and easy. We especially appreciated th...

Jack G.

We cannot recommend working with Holton highly enough! As first time home buyers, we had many questions and Holton not only answered them honestly but with great patience. His candor made us feel confident that we were making ...

Joey S.

Skylr was incredible throughout the entire home buying process! She helped me find the perfect home and made everything feel smooth and stress free from start to finish. She was always responsive, knowledgeable, and truly went ...

Allee N.

I can’t recommend Skylr enough! She was always quick to communicate, answered all of my questions, and gave me honest advice every step of the way. What meant the most to me was that she really listened to what I wanted. She t...

Ashley S.

We’ve worked with many real estate agents as investors, and Holton is hands down the best Realtor we’ve ever worked with. After struggling to buy in the competitive South Tampa market on our own, hiring Holton was the best deci...

Joey P

Such a great experience using Holton as our Realtor! He was very professional, always on time, and he always kept us up to date on what was going on throughout the process. 11/10 would recommend using him as your realtor of you...

Deborah N

Holton was instrumental to us successfully buying our first home in the Tampa area. He helped us find a community that met all our needs by listening to us and finding the perfect fit. He and Jackson walked through countless pr...

Rahul S.

Tired of “good enough” services? I am! Looking for the best Realtor® who does more and makes your needs a top priority? I was! Luckily, I found Holton Irwin. The amount of effort and time he put into walking me through the proc...

Jake D.

The perfect process! I don't know how you get better than buying your first home from an agent that is genuine, responsive, caring, knowledgeable, and downright incredible at what they do. Other than having that Realtor® to be ...

Taylor M.

As first-time home buyers, Brandon and I didn't know what to expect during the home-buying process. Holton made buying our first home such a breeze! He was so professional and helpful during the entire process, even when we wou...

Megan S.

Buying a home for the first time can come with a lot of new emotions, especially in this highly competitive market. Having the right Realtor® to navigate us through it all was essential to our process. Holton checked all the bo...

Arya K.

The most helpful Realtor® in Tampa. We recently moved to Tampa, Florida, and with the rental market skyrocketing we had been thinking about buying a house for a while. As a first-time home buyer, Holton patiently guided us thro...

Tyler B.

We had an amazing experience working with Holton. This being our first home purchase, on top of relocating from across the country, we weren’t very knowledgeable about the process or practices. Holton always went above and beyo...

Nicolas C.

Holton was amazing to work with. Finding the right home is stressful, time-consuming, and exhausting. Holton always showed up with ideas and houses and an abundance of positive energy that's kept us going! I truly loved the hon...

Tomasz B.

He is a great Realtor®. He is very helpful, patient, and responsive. I would definitely recommend Holton, he was super flexible with scheduling viewings so that we could work around my work schedule. He explained the whole proc...

Brittany M.

Holton did an excellent job helping me and my fiancé find the perfect home! He was always available for any questions we had and kept us updated daily on homes we might be interested in. He is seriously the best and we could no...

Lucia C.

My husband and I used Holton to help us find a house while we were living 3 hours away. He was patient, knowledgeable, and kind, and went above and beyond to us find something in our price range, and in the timeframe we needed....

Taylor R.

We were very lucky to find Holton as our Realtor®! Holton was very helpful through every stage of the process. He was quick and responsive with setting up home tours which are so important in the busy Tampa Bay Area market. Hol...

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