Working With First Time Homebuyers for Newbies

As a new Real Estate Agent I acquired valuable information from a varity of resources.  I read blogs, talked to other agents and went to trainings.  It seems however, even with the massive amount of information available today, I learned the most valuable lessons through trial and error.  With all the resources available on the internet, most buyers are very educated on the home buying process.  But I find it is still wise to cover to not assumme they already know.  As I near the completion of my first year, I would like to share a list of tips I feel are important to a successful transaction with a first time homebuyer.  

• Ask if the clients are pre -qualified for a mortgage and how much they are pre-qualify for.  I mistakingly assummed my clients had covered this step and spent months showing homes to find out they had either had credit issues to clean up or did not qualify for the price range they were focused on.  You can save your clients and yourself time and heartbreak by asking the question up front and educating clients about the need for prequalification.  
• Before you venture out to show homes go over a list of wants & needs.  I also ask about items that they definitely do not want in a home (swimming pool, open floor plan, 2-story, etc.) .  Although I have found that the list occasionally shifts a little, I typically show significally less homes before an offer is made.
• Educate your clients that all communication should go through their Real Estate Agent.  If they go to Open Houses they should tell the agent who their Real Estate Agent is.  If they fall in love with a FSBO, make sure they know that as their agent, you can handle that too.  I was devestated when I lost clients to a FSBO that I had shown over 20 homes.    
• Educate your buyers early in the process about possible additional expenses.  Make sure they know if they will be required to have a down payment with the type of loan they qualify for.  Other items they may not be aware of are insection costs, earnest money and closing costs.  The lender will typically cover this, but I have found that is not always the case.  
• And finally, once you have a successful accepted offer, educate the buyers about not making any financial changes until after closing.  Do not quit or change jobs, buy furniture, buy a car, co-sign for someone, close accounts or buy furniture.  Any of these actions can cause the sale to fall apart.  

 Please share any additional tips you may have!