Before you buy a house, I would make sure you do these 5 things first.
Buying a new condo, townhome, or house is an exciting time but there are some tips I’d like to share so you as a buyer can have a much more pleasant experience when you go through the home buying process.
#1 Get pre-approved through a lender
Some buyers will look for houses and they get excited and want to put an offer on a home but they’re not pre-approved yet, so they’re not even sure how much they can afford or if they’re even able to buy a home. During the pre-approval process you will work with a lender and they will look at your finances and let you know about how much you can afford on a house and what the down payment amount would need to be. The lender will provide you a pre-approval letter if you qualify for a home loan. At that point, you can provide the pre-approval letter to your real estate agent and they can have that to include with the offer when you find a house you’d like to move forward with purchasing.
#2 Determine what area you want to live in
Many times buyers will look in a specific city or cities where they want to buy a house but if you can be more specific in your search then this will be very helpful. If you have a church that you attend nearby or a school, your workplace, are there certain activities that you want to be near? Try to find a place that’s going to be close enough to all of those things or at least some of those so that you’re not having to commute as much. It’s something that will make your life much easier if you’re not having to drive a lot.
#3 Decide if you want a condo, townhome, or a house
Sometimes buyers are open to either of these but as you think more about how you see yourself living in the house or property you buy, you want to determine if a condo will be okay for you, if a townhome will be fine, or do you need a house? A condo is like an apartment but one that you own. You’re going to have share it in the same building with other people you’ll have your own unit in a building with others. A townhome has walls that are shared but you have the upper area and lower area all to yourself. There’s no one above you or below you which is nice and backyards are very rare but some do offer this feature. You may have a balcony and some space in front of the garage but overall you’re not going to have much of a yard in most cases. A house is where you have a backyard, front yard, and you own the plot of land that the house sits on. Most people would prefer a house but there’s others who actually would prefer a townhome or condo. Another thing to consider about condos and townhomes is that most all will have an HOA (homeowner’s association) so do think of that when you’re factoring that into your equation. Houses at times may have an HOA but the monthly fee is much lower in cost because less is covered or included in the HOA dues.
#4 Down Payment Amount
When wanting to buy real estate, you want to figure out how much of a down payment you can afford so that you can make sure you have that cash available when it’s time to close. In addition to the down payment, there will be closing costs (loan costs, escrow dues, title fees).
#5 No Major Purchases
It’ll typically take about 30 to 45 days from when you go into contract on a place to actually closing on the property. After the offer is accepted and you’re in contract, you go into escrow. The property is not purchased yet. During this 30-45 day timeframe, you should avoid making any huge car purchases, major credit card purchases, or buying appliances for the home because that may affect your ability to qualify for the loan. During this time in escrow the lender will do a deep dive into the finances to make sure everything looks good so that you can close on the home. So just make sure no big purchases are made during that time frame. I actually had a client who made a big purchase and it almost caused the deal to fall through so just something to be aware of.
If you’re looking to buy Seattle real estate or if you need to sell your home, reach out and we’d be happy to assist.
I hope this information was helpful. If you have any questions about moving to Seattle or if you’re looking to buy a home or sell a home, let me know and I’d be happy to help out.
Jonathan Martis
Managing Broker / Real Estate Agent
North Pacific Real Estate
425.318.8999
jonathan(at)northpacificrealestate(dotted)com
