7 Steps You Need To Take When Buying A House

Everyone knows that buying a house is one of the biggest decisions they can ever make. It also comes with a lot of stress and hassle. There’ll be finances to look after, countless homes to see, and much more. Despite that, you’ll still want to go through the process.

At the same time, you’ll want to get rid of as much stress as possible. By knowing all of the steps you need to make, and actually being prepared for them, you should cut down on a lot of the stress.

While you could already know about more than a few of these, it’s possible you’re not sure about all of them. It’s worth diving into the most notable steps to buying a house you’ll have to go through. You’ll be a lot less stressed and confused during the process once you do.

Buying A House: 7 Steps You Need To Take

1. Know How Much You Can Spend

Once you’ve decided to buy a house, you’ll need to figure out how much you can spend. Knowing how much of a mortgage you can get helps with this, so it’s worth putting time and effort into figuring this out. While there are plenty of mortgage calculators out there, sometimes it’s worth visiting the bank.

Mortgage preapproval is an option with more than a few lenders. This is where they agree to lend you a specific amount, in theory. In most cases, they shouldn’t back out of this, so you’ll know exactly how much you can spend. After that, you can narrow down your options based on price and know you shouldn’t have a problem getting a mortgage for them.

2. Keep Closing Costs In Mind

You’ll already know you’ll need to save up for a deposit when you’re buying a house. Unfortunately, this is far from the only cost you’ll need to worry about. There are also closing costs, and these are relatively easy to overlook. While each individual cost can be minor, they add up relatively quickly.

Aim to pay between 3% and 6% of the property’s overall price as part of your closing costs. Make sure you have enough set aside to cover these. If you don’t, you could risk missing out on buying the house. Nobody wants that to happen, so spend a little extra time saving up your money before you go house hunting.

3. Find The Perfect Home For You

You’ll need to start house hunting at some point or another, and this can be a relatively easy process. You can find more than a few homes for sale online, and there’ll be plenty of real estate agents you can find to help you. It’s often recommended you go with an agent, as they could take a lot of stress out of this process for you.

Don’t be surprised if this part of the process takes a bit of time. Finding the perfect home for you often takes time, so you’ll have to have some patience for this. Be prepared to see a few properties before you find the right one. Once you do, however, the time and effort you put into it can be more than worth it.

4. Make An Offer

Once you’ve found the perfect home for you, you’ll have to make an offer on it. Despite seeming relatively simple, this can often be one of the more stressful parts of the process. There could be multiple other offers on the property, after all. You’ll usually need to submit your offer in writing.

When you’re submitting this, include your name and the amount you’re offering for the house. It’s also recommended you include a deadline for the sellers to accept. A real estate agent can often do this on your behalf, but you’ll need to do it yourself if you’re not working with them.

5. Get An Inspection

While a property inspection isn’t mandatory, it helps you make sure you know what you’re getting when you’re buying a house. It lets you find any potential issues with the property before you agree to actually buy it. This information could be vital to your decision, so it’s worth getting one.

The sellers shouldn’t have a problem with this, especially when they’re confident there’s nothing wrong with the house. This step shouldn’t take much time or effort, and you’ll just need to arrange for the inspection to take place. After that, you should get a report of the inspector’s findings.

6. Sort Out Repairs

Once you get the property inspection report, you could find there are a few issues that need to be sorted out. While this seems like a problem, it doesn’t have to be. It could give you more wiggle room when it comes to negotiating the price of the property. You could get the cost down so you can pay for these repairs.

Alternatively, you could negotiate for the sellers to take care of the repairs as a condition of the sale. While this means you couldn’t bring the price down, you’ll avoid the need to go through the stress of sorting out the repairs yourself. Either option could be a great one, depending on your preferences.

7. Close On The Sale

Once you’ve gotten all of the above sorted, it should be time to close on the sale. You should be confident the house is in good condition, the price should be right, and you’ll want to get it. Thankfully, most of the hard work is out of the way, but that doesn’t mean you’re completely through it, though.

You should get a closing disclosure from your lender. This details how much you’re expected to pay now, as well as summarizes the loan details. You should also expect the deeds to the house to be transferred during this process. While this could feel overwhelming, working with a professional – like an estate agent – helps you get through it relatively easily.

Tips For Buying A House

You’ll have to get through each of the above steps when you’re buying a house. Knowing about them ahead of time helps make the process easier, but you might want to take more of the stress out of it. With a few tips and tricks, you could make it a bit of a breeze.

Some of the more notable of these include:

• Knowing Your Loan Options – You’ll already know you could need financial help before buying a house. What you mightn’t have realized is you could have several options on offer, each of which offers their pros and cons. Make sure you know what these are so you can figure out which the best option for you is.
• Not Forgetting Closing Costs – Speaking of finances, make sure you’re aware of the closing costs associated with buying the house. These wouldn’t be included in what you would’ve paid to secure the property. Appraisal fees, attorneys fees, and similar options are some of the more common of these.
• Get The Documents Sorted – There’ll be quite a few documents to get through when you’re buying a house. These will all be vital, so make sure you don’t overlook any of them. From a quitclaim deed to titles and even inspection reports, get a copy in-hand as soon as you can.
• Knowing Your Needs & Nice-To-Haves – When you’re looking at properties, you’ll need a way to narrow them down. One of the more notable ways is to know what your needs and nice-to-haves are. Your needs should take priority, so focus on them first. The nice-to-haves can wait until you’re comparing two or three options.
• Being Confident In Your Offer – Never put down an offer unless you’re 100% confident it’s the right one for you. Take the time to compare all of your options and make sure you’re putting an offer in on a property you want to turn into a home. You wouldn’t want to end up getting buyer’s remorse, after all.

While there could still be some stress and hassle involved in buying a house, you should get through it easier than you’d think. At least, there should be less stress involved in the overall process. You should be in your dream home before you even know it.

Try not to overthink some factors, as they could be a lot more straightforward than you’d expect. You’ll get through the process before you know it.

Buying A House: Wrapping Up

Buying a house is often a complicated time, and you could feel yourself getting a lot more stressed than you’d want. You don’t have to settle for that, though. By being as prepared as possible before starting the process, you could be in a much better position.

You’ll actually know what you’re doing, and you’ll avoid getting confused or stressed out about anything. While there’ll still be some work involved, knowing the steps you’ll have to take removes most of the stress.

Add in a few specific tips and tricks, and you’ll have a lot less to worry about. You’ll get through the process relatively easily.