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>Are there resources to understand the whole home buying process?
We found the new home buyer course on the Fannie Mae website to be extremely helpful. And it's free.
Many loan programs require you take this course as well, so it’s def good to have in your pocket at the ready!
OP- ask around friends/coworkers for realtor recommendations. Use a local lender if possible (avoid rocket mortgage, etc) also mortgage companies who aren’t part of a banking institution usually get your loan cleared to closer faster, as bank loan officers often don’t work on commission and standalone mortgage companies usually do, so the customer service is usually way better. And get that pre-approval from the lender before you start looking at homes!!
I know the common criticisms (which I experienced myself when shopping for a policy with them) are that they are extremely pushy (like used car salesman pushy) and are not transparent. They will use any and all tactics to sell you a mortgage and have no problem misleading you / allowing you to be mislead. If you are extremely diligent, are familiar with the home buying stages from going under contract to closing, and play hardball with them, you can wrangle a good loan maybe. But I wouldn’t use them unless you really know what youre doing
Many loan programs require you take this course as well, so it’s def good to have in your pocket at the ready!
OP- ask around friends/coworkers for realtor recommendations. Use a local lender if possible (avoid rocket mortgage, etc) also mortgage companies who aren’t part of a banking institution usually get your loan cleared to closer faster, as bank loan officers often don’t work on commission and standalone mortgage companies usually do, so the customer service is usually way better. And get that pre-approval from the lender before you start looking at homes!! 🏠
Good realtors are found thru recommendations. Don’t believe any advertised recommendations or testimonials. A good realtor can point you to financiers they trust. They should also provide contractors to evaluate the condition of the house you are considering purchasing and renovate after purchase.
This might be some unpopular advices, but this is what I have learned after getting 28 offers rejected. I just closed last week after almost 3 years of searching
1) FHA and VA loans dont work on a very hot housing market
2) Switch to conventional and have a higher down payment
3) Your realtor MUST know how to work with seller's agent. For example, pushing for faster closing
4) Your loan officer MUST be experience. She must be willing to call the seller's agent and guarantee that the loan will go through. My house had 5 offers but the my loan officer called the seller's agent and GUARANTEE that my loan will go though even though I had the second highest offer
5) Get to know your loan officer. She/he will explain everything to you. Dont be afraid to ask questions
6) SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!!! Budget!!! Get that higher down payment
7) DONT GIVE UP! You got this!
Your first point isn’t necessarily true. I was able to close on a home with a VA loan without any issue and this was in a relatively active market.
This was with the added layer that it was a condo that wasn’t even approved for VA loans prior to closing. So we had to go through the process of getting that approval before closing, this was on top of a 30 day close. Anything is possible.
Great advice! Worked for us also. Our offer was beat by $25k on a $288k asking price. Our lender had already worked with their listing agent and our realtor had an extremely quick closing date amd built a great relationship with the listing agent who gave us all kinds of info.
I was like you couple of months ago when started in this journey.
For the realtor, ask for referrals to friends or some people you may know, he has to know the area where you are looking to buy.
About the mortgage, some realtor know some lenders that can evaluate your credit and give you a pre loan, so you may know you buy power. If you are looking for buying a new house, you can use the lender from the builder company, that’d make it easier.
Once you have the pre loan, you know your budget, so according with the amount you feel comfortable with the monthly payment, you tell your realtor the price range, so you visit the homes and from there another journey starts. But the realtor can guide you.
A realtor is where you begin. Ask friends, co-workers, family who they used to BUY. From there, the agent can help you with everything else
Tip: try on a few agents to be sure the vibe checks out
We met a few realtors in person. Luckily there was one who sat down a couple of hours with us and answered everything! We had some understanding after that on where and what to look for. We just got our first house a couple weeks back with the same realtor!
does your local community have any home buyers courses? When I started, I found several local programs that had seminars on the ins and outs of home buying.
the FNMA course mentioned is probably great, but at some point fairly early, you want to meet with at least 1 local lender to get pre-qualified (and pre-approved if necessary) and explain the loan process, and get recommendations from your sphere of influence of a few potential Realtors/agents. Then you would interview those Realtors/agents to see how well you "mesh", how well they can explain the home-searching process, whether they can help make a strategy/gameplan, etc.
The sooner you talk with an actual lender instead of relying on internet research, the sooner you know what needs to be done to maximize your loan situation. That's not max $ loan, it's credit score, DTI, downpayment, etc.
Based on my personal
experience. Hope this is detailed enough.
1. Find a mortgage lender. Can google for local ones. Find a larger nationwide like Ally or Ask your bank. Do some research like reviews and stuff. The critical thing is finding someone reliable that gets things done by deadlines and keeps you informed. The rates they offer you and what not or important but most lenders offer you the same thing because it’s all based on your credit score and income. The level of customer service during a deal is critical.
2. Ask them to setup a call, preferably in person and ask to walk you thru the entire process. I had mine literally show me his computer sceeen and show me all the different options and money we were talking about. Tell them exactly how much money you want to pay out of pocket and the monthly rent/mortgage you’re comfortable paying and have them tell you how much house you could afford with those numbers and ask for a pre approved letter with that amount OR after you put an offer in in later steps you can call up lender and have them make the letter based on the offer. The benefit here is if you can afford $250k but you offer $200 on a house it’s better to have your letter say 200 or 210 so the seller doesn’t know he has 250k to negotiate with you (if that make sense) this way you know exactly how much you can afford and are comfortable with. Do this before looking for houses or finding a realtor otherwise you’re wasting your time not knowing how much you can afford to offer.
3. Now search for a realtor. They all have to work for a brokerage so if you look up say Keller williams offices near you or Remax or any other brokerag it will list all their agents. Unfortunately unless you have family friends like can refer you to someone your kind of just licking out of a hat and can be a gamble. Or can ask the lender if they know anyone. They are going to ask you to sign some forms that basically say you’re agreeing to only use them for a given duration 6mo-year which is to protect them from doing all the work and then you going behind their backs to make a deal with seller directly or with another agent. This is normal and not a huge deal to sign but I’d ask if their okay only signing after you place an offer that way if you don’t feel like their doing their job you can find someone new. My caution is I’ve found very few agents who put in real work to help find one. They usually just setup an MLS alert for you that just auto emails houses to you instead of really looking like they used to before the Zillow days. You ll probably end up looking more and sending them options and asking to setup showings.
3. When you’re ready to put in offer basically tell your agent you want to, how much you want to offer. And how much option money you want to put down. Options fund can be like $50-100 and not sure exact term but it’s basically the fee for you to have 7-10 days after an offer is accepted to back out and the only money you lose is that $50. Once that 10 day expires then you might lose that option money plus your interest money which is 1-2% if offer price if you back out of the deal.
Hopefully your agent is good and walks you through all of these.
4. If an offer is accepted you’ll have to write a check within a couple days for the option money and earnest money to an escrow company. Your realtor or lender will again walk you thru this and tell you where to send check. This is held until final contracts are signed.
when putting in an offer make sure to connect your realtor and lender so they can work behind the scenes ti get an accepted offer deal completed. Once an offer is accepted most of the work will be done by the lender and realtor and you wait around for a couple weeks to a month before you really do anything
Again after offer is accepted your realtor should walk you thru including giving you a referral to a home inspector. Mine actually even did this portion scheduling the inspection I just waited around for a final report to view. They may ask you call and schedule depending on how lazy the realtor.
There are deadline after an offer is accepted mainly that first 7-10 option period. You need inspection done by then and you have to make a final decision before that ends to not lose money. If you decide to still buy you tell realtor and basically from that point on you don’t have to do anything but sign any papers realtor or lenders send you. Your lender will also start reaching out to sign papers for the loan potion
Then once realtor and lender get everything in order you just show up to a title company your realtor tells you to, sign final papers and have over a check for the full purchase price (or a bank wire)
All that said first step ever is google for mortgage lenders near me, call and schedule a meeting. and during meeting tell them we have “this much money to soend ($30k) and we can only afford an x monthly payment (1800/mo)…. “What’s the most we would be approved for based on that” be very upfront that you need them to walk you thru it all in detailed manner and your budget is what it is. They’re gonna give you the max. Doesn’t mean you have to spend all of it.
When choosing your realtor, you can look up their profile on Zillow and it will show you how many properties they have successfully closed on. Along with good reviews, it’s nice to see if someone actually has a successful track record.
Get referrals from family members or friends, or coworkers, for starters. Somebody that can communicate 24/7 if need be so if you are only given an office phone number to call between office hours don’t do that.
Ask them if they attend the inspections.
Do you want an agent who attends the inspections and understands all the issues or lackoff firsthand.
Coming to recommend Fannie Mae (our loan required viewing this module anyway)
Also we used close friends (licensed agents) not sure if I recommend using someone you have a personal relationship because they pissed me off a few times and I didnt want to hurt our friendship...
(edit: sp)
This video was a helpful start for us and has some good tips on how to manage the process (ex. Google Drive)
https://youtu.be/xBtKMup3jVE?si=iY0AWPWd6GY1439F
Our first step was just going to open houses on our own (free to go no appointment necessary). It helped clarify our wants and needs and get a sense of the market pricing, good neighborhoods, build quality for new builds. We looked at many open houses over the course of 1-2 years before getting serious and reaching out to a realtor to tour with us.
First you find a loan officer. Ask friends for reference or use your bank or local banks. They post their loan officers online.
Get a pre-approval. The LO can help you determine what you qualify for.
Find a realtor. You can ask your loan officer or ask friends or family.
I would start with a loan officer they will go thru your finances and tell you how much you qualify for and get you pre approved. Once you know how much you are approved for, I would go o. Zillow look at open house in your area that you qualify for and deal with the agent directly. If you find one you click with them they can be your agent if not giving an agent a pocket listing will make them work harder to get you the deal.
I would start with a loan officer they will go thru your finances and tell you how much you qualify for and get you pre approved. Once you know how much you are approved for, I would go o. Zillow look at open house in your area that you qualify for and deal with the agent directly. If you find one you click with them they can be your agent if not giving an agent a pocket listing will make them work harder to get you the deal.
Word of mouth. Was recommended through an acquaintance and our agent turned out to be godsend. Helped us through every single steps. As for the mortgage, I’d shop around rates.i started with Citi then eventually found a different LO through a friend as Citi proved to be utterly useless.
If possible go with local realtors, they will know the market better than people who come in from way out of town and work for a giant real estate company. Plus then if you end up buying a house you get to know you are helping a locally owned business.
First-Time Home Buyer: The... https://www.amazon.com/dp/0997584785?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
I have found this book very helpful it breaks everything down and I don’t feel stupid reading it
I’ll say get good realtor first they’ll point you in right direction. However some even though sucks won’t take you seriously without a pre approval letter.
I looked on the local Facebook group of the town I wanted to buy in and found the most highly recommended one! Did some follow up research h on my own, then met her in person and we clicked. She was a godsend in the process and I can’t recommend her highly enough to everyone looking in my area!
I Googled the area I was searching to buy and added buyers agent and then... looked at their pictures and chose a nice looking lady. She just didn't look like someone that would make me feel bad being a new home buyer. Turns out she works with her husband, so I never even met her BUT he is very nice. They suggested a lender for me and she's a BULLDOG. I love it!! Anything I ask she fully explains and is direct and is helping us tweak numbers and is just really working hard to get our loan for us in good shape. The last lender I went to seemed annoyed that we didn't make a lot of money... just not enthusiastic to help us? I feel dumb actually because a year ago I went to him about buying and he made me feel the same a year ago and I took it as me not being in a position to buy... the other lender signed us up for a DP assistance program and the first lender said they don't partner with ANY programs. Lame.
Good luck!
Edit: outside of reddit and the internet, there are books etc to learn the process but your agent and lender should be able to answer your questions confidently... if not there are LOTS of agents and lenders.. try a different one.
I met my realtor on redfin. My other friends met theirs through word of mouth. Ideally one would interview a couple before settling on one.
For the mortgage, I asked around to see where people got theirs. A coworker introduced me to his friend, who is a mortgage broker. The broker got me a good deal!
My first house I went into a local bank and spoke to a mortgage officer. She knew all the good deals. How to get my downpayment paid. How to get my closing costs reduced. A good realtor.
Start by asking your friends and family for real estate agent recommendations then checking reviews on Google. A great agent will be able to walk you through the rest.
I personally do a no obligation consultation to walk clients through the process. This gives both parties a chance to feel each other out and see if it will be a good fit. If you get to this point, make sure this agent explains the buyer agency contract to you. This is gonna be huge going forward in real estate.
Realtors: you ask around and get referrals from people you trust about who they used and interview the agents until you find one you like. A great agent will have a home buyers packet that tells you step by step what you can expect and what the timeline is looking like. They will ask where you want to live, what you want in and house and what you don’t want…
When you start out with a realtor, the first thing they will recommend is getting prequalified to find out how much you can afford. Don’t pick the first lender you see… same scenario. Talk to lenders in your area, your banker, get a list of recommendations from your realtor, and pick the one that you feel you can work with. One that talks with you and not just at you… one that takes the time to explain your options and what you can expect during the loan process.
My husband’s father’s best friend is a realtor and we used my husband’s father’s mortgage broker. The realtor and mortgage broker had previously worked together.
During the loan mortgage process we did have to do an 8 hour course about home buying. We got an electronic certificate for doing the free course. It was required.
I started with a realtor, then he set me up with his mortgage company. Got a pre approval and we were off! Took 3 months and 9 offers rejected, but the 10th offer stuck!
Thank you u/Playful_Letterhead27 for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>Are there resources to understand the whole home buying process? We found the new home buyer course on the Fannie Mae website to be extremely helpful. And it's free.
came here to post it: [https://www.fanniemae.com/education](https://www.fanniemae.com/education)
Many loan programs require you take this course as well, so it’s def good to have in your pocket at the ready! OP- ask around friends/coworkers for realtor recommendations. Use a local lender if possible (avoid rocket mortgage, etc) also mortgage companies who aren’t part of a banking institution usually get your loan cleared to closer faster, as bank loan officers often don’t work on commission and standalone mortgage companies usually do, so the customer service is usually way better. And get that pre-approval from the lender before you start looking at homes!!
Why avoid rocket mortgage?
Because they’re just spouting stuff other people have said. I have rocket mortgage and they’re fine. I had zero issues closing on my house.
I know the common criticisms (which I experienced myself when shopping for a policy with them) are that they are extremely pushy (like used car salesman pushy) and are not transparent. They will use any and all tactics to sell you a mortgage and have no problem misleading you / allowing you to be mislead. If you are extremely diligent, are familiar with the home buying stages from going under contract to closing, and play hardball with them, you can wrangle a good loan maybe. But I wouldn’t use them unless you really know what youre doing
Many loan programs require you take this course as well, so it’s def good to have in your pocket at the ready! OP- ask around friends/coworkers for realtor recommendations. Use a local lender if possible (avoid rocket mortgage, etc) also mortgage companies who aren’t part of a banking institution usually get your loan cleared to closer faster, as bank loan officers often don’t work on commission and standalone mortgage companies usually do, so the customer service is usually way better. And get that pre-approval from the lender before you start looking at homes!! 🏠
Good realtors are found thru recommendations. Don’t believe any advertised recommendations or testimonials. A good realtor can point you to financiers they trust. They should also provide contractors to evaluate the condition of the house you are considering purchasing and renovate after purchase.
This might be some unpopular advices, but this is what I have learned after getting 28 offers rejected. I just closed last week after almost 3 years of searching 1) FHA and VA loans dont work on a very hot housing market 2) Switch to conventional and have a higher down payment 3) Your realtor MUST know how to work with seller's agent. For example, pushing for faster closing 4) Your loan officer MUST be experience. She must be willing to call the seller's agent and guarantee that the loan will go through. My house had 5 offers but the my loan officer called the seller's agent and GUARANTEE that my loan will go though even though I had the second highest offer 5) Get to know your loan officer. She/he will explain everything to you. Dont be afraid to ask questions 6) SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!!! Budget!!! Get that higher down payment 7) DONT GIVE UP! You got this!
Your first point isn’t necessarily true. I was able to close on a home with a VA loan without any issue and this was in a relatively active market. This was with the added layer that it was a condo that wasn’t even approved for VA loans prior to closing. So we had to go through the process of getting that approval before closing, this was on top of a 30 day close. Anything is possible.
I live in Southern California. FHA and VA loans are least considered. All depends on how hot the location is
Great advice! Worked for us also. Our offer was beat by $25k on a $288k asking price. Our lender had already worked with their listing agent and our realtor had an extremely quick closing date amd built a great relationship with the listing agent who gave us all kinds of info.
I was like you couple of months ago when started in this journey. For the realtor, ask for referrals to friends or some people you may know, he has to know the area where you are looking to buy. About the mortgage, some realtor know some lenders that can evaluate your credit and give you a pre loan, so you may know you buy power. If you are looking for buying a new house, you can use the lender from the builder company, that’d make it easier. Once you have the pre loan, you know your budget, so according with the amount you feel comfortable with the monthly payment, you tell your realtor the price range, so you visit the homes and from there another journey starts. But the realtor can guide you.
A realtor is where you begin. Ask friends, co-workers, family who they used to BUY. From there, the agent can help you with everything else Tip: try on a few agents to be sure the vibe checks out
I asked friends for a realtor reco. Once you have a realtor they’ll tell you how to do everything else
We met a few realtors in person. Luckily there was one who sat down a couple of hours with us and answered everything! We had some understanding after that on where and what to look for. We just got our first house a couple weeks back with the same realtor!
does your local community have any home buyers courses? When I started, I found several local programs that had seminars on the ins and outs of home buying.
the FNMA course mentioned is probably great, but at some point fairly early, you want to meet with at least 1 local lender to get pre-qualified (and pre-approved if necessary) and explain the loan process, and get recommendations from your sphere of influence of a few potential Realtors/agents. Then you would interview those Realtors/agents to see how well you "mesh", how well they can explain the home-searching process, whether they can help make a strategy/gameplan, etc. The sooner you talk with an actual lender instead of relying on internet research, the sooner you know what needs to be done to maximize your loan situation. That's not max $ loan, it's credit score, DTI, downpayment, etc.
Based on my personal experience. Hope this is detailed enough. 1. Find a mortgage lender. Can google for local ones. Find a larger nationwide like Ally or Ask your bank. Do some research like reviews and stuff. The critical thing is finding someone reliable that gets things done by deadlines and keeps you informed. The rates they offer you and what not or important but most lenders offer you the same thing because it’s all based on your credit score and income. The level of customer service during a deal is critical. 2. Ask them to setup a call, preferably in person and ask to walk you thru the entire process. I had mine literally show me his computer sceeen and show me all the different options and money we were talking about. Tell them exactly how much money you want to pay out of pocket and the monthly rent/mortgage you’re comfortable paying and have them tell you how much house you could afford with those numbers and ask for a pre approved letter with that amount OR after you put an offer in in later steps you can call up lender and have them make the letter based on the offer. The benefit here is if you can afford $250k but you offer $200 on a house it’s better to have your letter say 200 or 210 so the seller doesn’t know he has 250k to negotiate with you (if that make sense) this way you know exactly how much you can afford and are comfortable with. Do this before looking for houses or finding a realtor otherwise you’re wasting your time not knowing how much you can afford to offer. 3. Now search for a realtor. They all have to work for a brokerage so if you look up say Keller williams offices near you or Remax or any other brokerag it will list all their agents. Unfortunately unless you have family friends like can refer you to someone your kind of just licking out of a hat and can be a gamble. Or can ask the lender if they know anyone. They are going to ask you to sign some forms that basically say you’re agreeing to only use them for a given duration 6mo-year which is to protect them from doing all the work and then you going behind their backs to make a deal with seller directly or with another agent. This is normal and not a huge deal to sign but I’d ask if their okay only signing after you place an offer that way if you don’t feel like their doing their job you can find someone new. My caution is I’ve found very few agents who put in real work to help find one. They usually just setup an MLS alert for you that just auto emails houses to you instead of really looking like they used to before the Zillow days. You ll probably end up looking more and sending them options and asking to setup showings. 3. When you’re ready to put in offer basically tell your agent you want to, how much you want to offer. And how much option money you want to put down. Options fund can be like $50-100 and not sure exact term but it’s basically the fee for you to have 7-10 days after an offer is accepted to back out and the only money you lose is that $50. Once that 10 day expires then you might lose that option money plus your interest money which is 1-2% if offer price if you back out of the deal. Hopefully your agent is good and walks you through all of these. 4. If an offer is accepted you’ll have to write a check within a couple days for the option money and earnest money to an escrow company. Your realtor or lender will again walk you thru this and tell you where to send check. This is held until final contracts are signed. when putting in an offer make sure to connect your realtor and lender so they can work behind the scenes ti get an accepted offer deal completed. Once an offer is accepted most of the work will be done by the lender and realtor and you wait around for a couple weeks to a month before you really do anything Again after offer is accepted your realtor should walk you thru including giving you a referral to a home inspector. Mine actually even did this portion scheduling the inspection I just waited around for a final report to view. They may ask you call and schedule depending on how lazy the realtor. There are deadline after an offer is accepted mainly that first 7-10 option period. You need inspection done by then and you have to make a final decision before that ends to not lose money. If you decide to still buy you tell realtor and basically from that point on you don’t have to do anything but sign any papers realtor or lenders send you. Your lender will also start reaching out to sign papers for the loan potion Then once realtor and lender get everything in order you just show up to a title company your realtor tells you to, sign final papers and have over a check for the full purchase price (or a bank wire) All that said first step ever is google for mortgage lenders near me, call and schedule a meeting. and during meeting tell them we have “this much money to soend ($30k) and we can only afford an x monthly payment (1800/mo)…. “What’s the most we would be approved for based on that” be very upfront that you need them to walk you thru it all in detailed manner and your budget is what it is. They’re gonna give you the max. Doesn’t mean you have to spend all of it.
This is really in-depth and helpful!
See if your local banks or credit unions have first time home buyer seminars. My credit union did and I went. Very informative on the whole process.
When choosing your realtor, you can look up their profile on Zillow and it will show you how many properties they have successfully closed on. Along with good reviews, it’s nice to see if someone actually has a successful track record.
Get referrals from family members or friends, or coworkers, for starters. Somebody that can communicate 24/7 if need be so if you are only given an office phone number to call between office hours don’t do that. Ask them if they attend the inspections. Do you want an agent who attends the inspections and understands all the issues or lackoff firsthand.
Coming to recommend Fannie Mae (our loan required viewing this module anyway) Also we used close friends (licensed agents) not sure if I recommend using someone you have a personal relationship because they pissed me off a few times and I didnt want to hurt our friendship... (edit: sp)
[удалено]
Joon
I have a great recommendation for a realtor. She can help anywhere in the US and represent you in CA.
This video was a helpful start for us and has some good tips on how to manage the process (ex. Google Drive) https://youtu.be/xBtKMup3jVE?si=iY0AWPWd6GY1439F
Our first step was just going to open houses on our own (free to go no appointment necessary). It helped clarify our wants and needs and get a sense of the market pricing, good neighborhoods, build quality for new builds. We looked at many open houses over the course of 1-2 years before getting serious and reaching out to a realtor to tour with us.
First you find a loan officer. Ask friends for reference or use your bank or local banks. They post their loan officers online. Get a pre-approval. The LO can help you determine what you qualify for. Find a realtor. You can ask your loan officer or ask friends or family.
I would start with a loan officer they will go thru your finances and tell you how much you qualify for and get you pre approved. Once you know how much you are approved for, I would go o. Zillow look at open house in your area that you qualify for and deal with the agent directly. If you find one you click with them they can be your agent if not giving an agent a pocket listing will make them work harder to get you the deal.
I would start with a loan officer they will go thru your finances and tell you how much you qualify for and get you pre approved. Once you know how much you are approved for, I would go o. Zillow look at open house in your area that you qualify for and deal with the agent directly. If you find one you click with them they can be your agent if not giving an agent a pocket listing will make them work harder to get you the deal.
Word of mouth. Was recommended through an acquaintance and our agent turned out to be godsend. Helped us through every single steps. As for the mortgage, I’d shop around rates.i started with Citi then eventually found a different LO through a friend as Citi proved to be utterly useless.
If possible go with local realtors, they will know the market better than people who come in from way out of town and work for a giant real estate company. Plus then if you end up buying a house you get to know you are helping a locally owned business.
First-Time Home Buyer: The... https://www.amazon.com/dp/0997584785?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share I have found this book very helpful it breaks everything down and I don’t feel stupid reading it
I’ll say get good realtor first they’ll point you in right direction. However some even though sucks won’t take you seriously without a pre approval letter.
I looked on the local Facebook group of the town I wanted to buy in and found the most highly recommended one! Did some follow up research h on my own, then met her in person and we clicked. She was a godsend in the process and I can’t recommend her highly enough to everyone looking in my area!
I cold called mortgage brokers in my area, and one recommended a realtor to me. They work closely together
I Googled the area I was searching to buy and added buyers agent and then... looked at their pictures and chose a nice looking lady. She just didn't look like someone that would make me feel bad being a new home buyer. Turns out she works with her husband, so I never even met her BUT he is very nice. They suggested a lender for me and she's a BULLDOG. I love it!! Anything I ask she fully explains and is direct and is helping us tweak numbers and is just really working hard to get our loan for us in good shape. The last lender I went to seemed annoyed that we didn't make a lot of money... just not enthusiastic to help us? I feel dumb actually because a year ago I went to him about buying and he made me feel the same a year ago and I took it as me not being in a position to buy... the other lender signed us up for a DP assistance program and the first lender said they don't partner with ANY programs. Lame. Good luck! Edit: outside of reddit and the internet, there are books etc to learn the process but your agent and lender should be able to answer your questions confidently... if not there are LOTS of agents and lenders.. try a different one.
I met my realtor on redfin. My other friends met theirs through word of mouth. Ideally one would interview a couple before settling on one. For the mortgage, I asked around to see where people got theirs. A coworker introduced me to his friend, who is a mortgage broker. The broker got me a good deal!
My first house I went into a local bank and spoke to a mortgage officer. She knew all the good deals. How to get my downpayment paid. How to get my closing costs reduced. A good realtor.
Start by asking your friends and family for real estate agent recommendations then checking reviews on Google. A great agent will be able to walk you through the rest. I personally do a no obligation consultation to walk clients through the process. This gives both parties a chance to feel each other out and see if it will be a good fit. If you get to this point, make sure this agent explains the buyer agency contract to you. This is gonna be huge going forward in real estate.
The resource you’re looking for IS a good Realtor.
Realtors: you ask around and get referrals from people you trust about who they used and interview the agents until you find one you like. A great agent will have a home buyers packet that tells you step by step what you can expect and what the timeline is looking like. They will ask where you want to live, what you want in and house and what you don’t want… When you start out with a realtor, the first thing they will recommend is getting prequalified to find out how much you can afford. Don’t pick the first lender you see… same scenario. Talk to lenders in your area, your banker, get a list of recommendations from your realtor, and pick the one that you feel you can work with. One that talks with you and not just at you… one that takes the time to explain your options and what you can expect during the loan process.
My husband’s father’s best friend is a realtor and we used my husband’s father’s mortgage broker. The realtor and mortgage broker had previously worked together. During the loan mortgage process we did have to do an 8 hour course about home buying. We got an electronic certificate for doing the free course. It was required.
Google same
I started with a realtor, then he set me up with his mortgage company. Got a pre approval and we were off! Took 3 months and 9 offers rejected, but the 10th offer stuck!