Buyer's Guide

A Step-by-Step First Time Buyer's Guide

Buying a home is one of the most exciting milestones of your life. To prepare yourself for this moment, you need to know what to expect during the process. This step-by-step first time buyer’s guide created by our team will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

Step 1: Research

Do you already know where you want to buy? If you want a condo, townhome, or single-family home? Which features do you like and dislike? What’s available on the market now? If you answered no to any of these questions, now is the time to start researching. In addition to looking for homes that interest you, also take note of any changes in asking prices. This could give you valuable insight into housing trends in specific neighborhoods and help you when the time comes to make an offer.

Step 2: Decide on Your Budget

Notice we said to decide on your budget—not determine how much the mortgage company will give you. In many cases, a mortgage company will pre-approve you for more than you’re comfortable spending, which is why you need to determine the monthly payment you feel comfortable with before talking to a lender. This likely includes doing a full household budget and taking into consideration what changes other than a mortgage payment will occur once you move into your new home. If you’ve lived in an apartment or with roommates, you may overlook new expenses like garbage, water, or HOA fees that could easily blow your budget.

Step 3: Get Prequalified

Just because you think you can afford a certain payment every month doesn’t mean the mortgage company will agree. Just as they may approve you for too large of an amount, they may also approve you for a lesser amount or deny you a mortgage altogether. Lack of time at a job, insufficient credit, past bankruptcies, or other financial issues can cause major problems when trying to secure a mortgage. Before you get your heart set on a home, talk to a mortgage professional to find out what amount you can qualify for. This will also be an advantage when you make an offer on a home, as some sellers won’t entertain offers from those who aren’t already prequalified for a loan.

Step 4: Choose a Real Estate Agent

Can you shop for, look at, and ultimately make an offer on a home without a real estate agent? Technically yes, but why would you when it costs you nothing for agents like us to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will we help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but we also have knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where our expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let us show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

Our goal is to provide you with the most personalized service that is designed to help you buy your dream home.

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Step 5: Find the Right Home

This should be the most enjoyable step of the entire process (other than moving in!). We will arrange showings of homes you’re interested in that are within your price range. Take notes about what you like and don’t like, and make sure to pay attention to details. Turn light switches on and off, open and close doors, and run the faucets in various rooms. Don’t limit your inspection to the home itself. Make sure to take time to explore the neighborhood and keep an eye on traffic at certain times of the day, the parking situation, and how close it is to necessities like schools and grocery stores.

Step 6: Make an Offer

Once you have selected the perfect home, work with your agent to craft a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes on the market. Depending on what the home is listed at and whether the current environment is a buyer’s or seller’s market, your offer may be below, at, or even above the asking price. We will be able to help you negotiate if you receive a counteroffer and reach an agreement. At this point, the house will go into escrow.

Step 7: Have the Home Inspected

In most cases, your offer will be contingent on having the home inspected to ensure there is no major structural damage or large repairs needed. We can help you arrange this, and you can schedule it within days of making an offer. If there are no major issues, the process goes to step eight. If there is, you can renegotiate your offer based on what needs to be fixed, or you can withdraw it.

Step 8: Select Your Loan

Now is the time to go back to the mortgage lender who pre-approved or pre-qualified you and choose your mortgage. You will be presented with various options based on your unique financial situation, including fixed-rate, variable-rate, 15-year, 30-year, or special programs such as VA loans or FHA loans. Work with your mortgage lender to select the option you feel the most comfortable with.

Step 9: Get a Home Appraisal

Your lender will have your new home appraised so they have their independent value of it. The appraisal is to ensure that all parties involved are paying a fair price for the house.

Step 10: Finish Paperwork

No one looks forward to all the paperwork involved in buying a home, but it’s a necessary part of the process. Fortunately, everything will be arranged by your lender and title company and, when you’re finished, you’ll know you are the legal owner of your new home.

Congratulations!

After signing the final paperwork to complete the purchase, you are now the owner of a new house. It may take a few days for your loan to be funded once the paperwork has been returned to the lender, but once that check is delivered to the seller, you’ll be all set to move into the home of your dreams.

Our Testimonials

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Jonathan B.

Chris was our home buying savior. Being new to the area, he talked us through the benefits of different neighborhoods and then identified homes to match our family's needs. Ultimately he found us our home that we love, before i...

Richard B.

Being new to Austin and having no knowledge of who to choose for a realtor, Chris Long was a godsend. My previous experiences with buying or selling a home had been less than pleasant. Chris made the process seamless. He was co...

Carmine S. & Steve B.

We know that Chris is a sought after agent, yet he somehow makes you feel like you are his only client! He is attentive, available and data driven in his recommendations while still appreciating the emotion that accompanies any...

Katherine J.

My realtor John Richardson was excellent! As a first time homebuyer I had a lot of questions and concerns going into the process. John was very patient with me and answered all my questions along the way so I felt confident and...

Bill & Susan B.

We can’t recommend Chris Long highly enough. In addition to being exceptionally knowledgeable about the Austin real estate market, he is a thoughtful listener and a consummate professional. Chris thoroughly researched comparabl...

Andy L.

We could not have been happier with John Richardson as our agent. As out-of-state buyers, John’s knowledge of the different neighborhoods throughout Austin was invaluable. He was patient, responsive, and insightful, and took th...

Robin A.

My husband and I recently moved from the West Coast to Austin, TX, and John Richardson helped us find our new single-family home. From the beginning, John went above and beyond to understand exactly the type of home we were loo...

Emily C.

John will be the Realtor® I return to for any home, condo, or other real estate needs in Austin. He is friendly, pays attention to your wants and opinions, and is knowledgeable about Austin real estate and each property we visi...

Margaret E.

John Richardson is great. We value his expertise and professionalism! He is a great person as well, and we are glad to have worked with him on buying land in Fredericksburg. Thank you all for making it a smooth process!

Mike G.

Working with Chris on the sale of our home turned out to be a fantastic decision. Our property was a bit tricky: a top-notch renovation of a relatively small house for the neighborhood meant we would be asking a price per squar...

Leslie P.

It was a pleasure to work with John Richardson for the sale of our rental house. His insights on the Austin market helped us maximize our profit, and his network of contractors and service providers made the whole process easy!

Danny C. & Mark W.

Your outstanding performance in finding us homes to purchase, as well as your expertise in marketing and selling our finished homes has been outstanding. We truly appreciate all of the effort you have put into working with us. ...

Paul L.

John was fantastic in helping with the purchase of our new home. His communication and professionalism were awesome the whole way through. I've bought several homes before and this was by far the smoothest transaction. Great ex...

Cheryl M.

I enlisted the services of Chris Long after my condo had an initial unsuccessful and prolonged time on the MLS with a previous agent. Chris put together a marketing plan to immediately introduce it to a large group of agents, h...

Will B.

Working with John was an absolute pleasure. We were first-time homebuyers and John made the experience as smooth as possible. We will be contacting John for any of our future real estate needs and we are happy to refer him to o...

Michael G.

In a sea of mediocre real estate agents, Chris Long shines like a star. Highly intelligent, Chris knows the Austin real estate market inside and out. He knows where to buy and why and can show you the numbers to prove it. Our m...

John W.

John Richardson was brilliant from start to finish. He is extremely knowledgeable from a construction perspective and has costs in the market. He is also not pushy and was an absolute pleasure to work with. I would recommend hi...

Charles W.

I had been familiar with Chris Long's name for years before we decided to list with him. He does a good job of being a part of the neighborhood fabric. His track record and professionalism can put any nervous seller at ease. I ...

Don H.

I was pleased with John Richardson and his team. Right from the beginning when we were making an offer his advice was spot on. The follow up after the offer was excellent. John and his team made this transaction very smooth. I ...

Carolyn S.

The qualities I found in Chris are critical to the home purchase/sale process. These include -Quality of Character - Chris is true to his clients. It is important to him that the client find the home of their desire and part of...

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