Stephanie Luciano - 503-285-4382 - Portland, OR
Go to Special Links for First Time Home Buyers
Buying your first home is exciting and frightening all at the same time. Should I buy? Where should I buy? What can I buy? How much can I buy? Will my credit history allow me to obtain a mortgage? Is homeownership for me? Can I afford all the things I want?
Working with new home buyers is my specialty. I give you the straight talk.
We start by looking at your financial situation. How much can you afford and is it enough or too much? What is your credit rating? Do we need to do some cleaning up before we can get started? Sometimes a little clean up and a little time can make a significant dent in the interest rate, is it worth it? Do you have enough saved up (or that will be gifted to you) for the down payment and closing costs? What special programs can we investigate further if you fit certain income guidelines? Where are the good lenders and what are all of these fees? Which mortgage program(s) should you discuss with your lender?
Once we know what you can afford we can narrow down the best home choice. Do you want to be in a certain school district or area of town? Do you want to fix up a house (and what that means)? Do you want a garage or a two-story? What are your special needs or interests? What's working for you where you live now, what's not? After we create a list of must haves and would really like to have we can see what's out there in your price range. Once we've seen a few homes, we can take another look at the list and refine it as we go along. This is a big decision and you should see several homes before making a choice. Maybe something that was on your must have list falls off and something you never thought of is added. It's a process. Within what you can afford, I want to be sure you get what your looking.
As part of the education process we will review what an earnest money agreement (offer to purchase) is all about. You will need to make many decisions when righting up the offer so it's a good thing to be thinking about your options before we actually find the right home. Some things you'll need to decided on is when you want to take possession, will you conduct a full home inspection or just what's required by the lender, how much time do you want to complete the various steps (inspections, loan approval, appraisal, closing, possession, etc.), how much earnest money will you put down, and more. You'll need to know what down payment you will make if you want the seller to contribute to the closing cost and if so how much. There's a lot involved and it helps to know ahead of time what kind of decisions you'll need to make when you're very excited about the absolutely perfect home you just found. Sometimes we get so excited about finding the perfect place we don't look as closely at the details as we wished we may have.
After the offer is accepted, there is a whole other range of things that must get done and be addressed. We now have timelines we have to follow. If we haven't already got loan approved and submitted all of the documents to the lender, it will become very important now. Inspections need to be ordered and evaluated before you pay big bucks for an appraisal. If during the course of the inspection, you find that there are things you must see fixed or it's a deal breaker, we need to have time to make decisions. Once everything is in place (loan, inspections, appraisal, etc.) a date will be set to sign all of the documents in closing. Generally this takes some time because there are ever so many forms to sign and they can get a little confusing. It's a good idea to have the title company send you a copy of the closing statement before your appointment so you have time to review it and address any items prior to the meeting.
The paperwork is all done... why can't I move in right now? I'm paying for it, right? That depends and it's something we will talk about before closing.
If you haven't experienced your first home purchase, you've come to the right person. This is a process and it's for one of the biggest purchases of your life. You need to feel comfortable that you have the right information and you're going down the right path. I can help you achieve the American Dream.
Want the American Dream... Contact Stephanie
Portland, OR - Stephanie Luciano - 503-285-4382
Oregon First
PDX Equity Team
9836 E Burnside
Portland, OR 97216
503-285-4382
Stephanie Luciano