Before you start your home search, the best place to begin is to calculate your budget. Buying a home is the biggest financial commitment you’ll likely make in your lifetime. You’ll need to plan precisely how you’ll pay for your house, monthly maintenance costs, property taxes, utilities, and keeping up with the mortgage.
Securing a prequalification for your mortgage is essential before you start your home search. The mortgage prequalification is the first step in the financing process of purchasing a home because it dials in exactly how much you can borrow and how much you’ll need to put in for your down payment. In addition to how much you’ll need to reserve for closing costs. It’s common for your lender to require personal financial documents during the prequalification for your mortgage. You can be better prepared by gathering your financial records in advance. Generally, you’ll need two to three years of tax returns, your most recent pay stub, and banking statements.
Once you have a budget, it’s easy to do a quick home search online to get a general idea of what might be available in your area and budget. Most homebuyers look around at the available homes on the internet before officially starting their search. Viewing homes online is an excellent way to get some prep work done towards finding your next space. Because it gives you an overview of what properties and price ranges you’ll encounter. If the properties you’re seeing online look good to you and you already have your mortgage prequalification, you’re ready to contact us to start your house hunt officially!
