Buying a home can be overwhelming. If you’re a home buyer, knowing where to start and where to focus your energy can help make your home search productive and enjoyable. These tips will help with the purchasing process of your Carver home.

Get Pre-Approved

One of the first things that many homebuyers do when they decide to look for a home is to contact mortgage lenders to become pre-approved or pre-qualified for a mortgage.To get pre-qualified, a home buyer must supply the lender with financial information. To become pre-approved, the home buyer must fill out a loan application and supply the lender with documentation that supports their financial status. Because the pre-approval process involves getting hard proof of the buyer’s financial situation, pre-approval is more desirable and more valuable when it’s time to make an offer a on a home.

Establish a Budget

Once a home buyer is pre-approved for a mortgage, it’s much easier to establish a budget for buying and moving. The lender can help with this process by estimating the monthly mortgage payment for homes of various prices.

This can help the buyer determine how much will be needed each month, how much will be needed for the down payment and how much will be needed for closing costs. Knowing these amounts can then help the buyer decide how much can be spent on moving, fixing up the house after move in, an so on.

Research Neighborhoods

Once the buyer knows how much he or she can afford to spend, then it’s time to decide which neighborhoods will be the focus of the search. Spending time in each neighborhood can help the home buyer decide which neighborhoods are most desirable. These factors are important considerations that can affect a home buyer’s decision:

• Crime rates
• Traffic
• Presence of sidewalks
• Condition of the homes
• Number of renters in the area
• Quality of schools
• Age of the homes
• Proximity to businesses
• Commute to workplace

Considering all of these variables can help homeowners decide which neighborhoods are the most desirable, and which neighborhoods are less desirable. Doing this can influence the search and help buyers narrow their search to the best locations.

View Homes

After establishing a budget and deciding which neighborhoods are best, start looking at homes in earnest. Going to showings and seeing homes privately can help you decide which home features are most important and desirable.

Make a List of Must-Haves

A list of must-haves is important for helping home buyers narrow their search to one or two houses. Knowing the must haves can make a home search more productive while helping to ensure that the home that is purchased meets the needs of the buyer. When determining must-haves, consider factors like lifestyle, children, pets, hobbies and health. Common must-haves include:

• Extra bedrooms for more children in the future.
• Age-in-place features for seniors.
• Space for engaging in hobbies.
• A large yard where children or pets can play.

For the most part, a must-have is anything that is absolutely necessary upon move in and which would be prohibitively expensive to install after the purchase goes through.

Find the Right Real Estate Agent

One of the most important things that any home buyer can do is find a real estate agent who can help with the home search. A good real estate agent can help a home buyer find a lender, zero in on markets that meet their needs and rule out homes that are not realistic. For more information about buying a home, contact a reputable real estate agent in your area.