1. How much house can you afford? (and still have money left over to order out for pizza once in a while).  A good lender will help you figure this out based on the information you give them.

2. Not all Lenders offer the same rates and deals.  Shop around.  Ask me about bank lenders vs. mortgage brokers.  Then get preapproved for a mortgage.

3. Great News! You do not have to pay your Realtor ANYTHING!! No kidding!  The Seller pays their Realtor AND the Buyer's Realtor.

4. Start looking at homes only after you have done the two items above.  I will research homes for you based on what you tell me you want in a home.  I will help you to note positives and negatives of each property. 

5. Know what kinds of properties you are looking at. Short Sales, Bank Owned, Preforeclosure, REO's, Straight Sales are all out there right now.  Ask me to explain what each type of house means to you, your strategy and your timeframe.

6. How to make an acceptable offer.  I will give you the information on comparable properties that tells you what similar homes have sold for recently.  We will discuss your options together and make an educated offer.

7. You have to have money available to go with your offer.  This Earnest Money is usually a personal check that we submit to the Seller to show you are serious about your offer.  A general rule is the Earnest Money is 1% of the house price.

8. There are TWO negotiation periods on most houses.  The first period is when you are trying to agree on the price and conditions of the sale.  The second period comes after you have a Home Inspection and are trying to get the seller to make repairs.

9. You CAN get out of the deal.  If you can't get a mortgage, if the house doesn't appraise, if the house has serious flaws the Home Inspector finds, if, if, if... Ask me about this.

10. You will need money for an appraisal, down payment, and closing costs.  Have all of this figured out way before the closing date approaches.

As your Realtor, I will help you with every step of the process in getting into your new home.  Let's get started!