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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 will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

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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.

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Step 2: Decide on Your Budget

Notice I 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.

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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.

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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 an agent like me to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will I help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but I also have a knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. I may be able to steer you away from certain homes or neighborhoods, suggest hidden gems, or give you pointers that will help you find your dream home for the right price.

My 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!). I 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.

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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. I 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.

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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. I 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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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Tan A.

I had such a great experience working with Jeannie selling my condo.
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Matt L.

We were so grateful for all the support Jeannie provided to us. She has great knowledge of the San Francisco homes and helped us get our dream home faster than we ever expected!
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Jonathan O.

Working with Jeannie made the complex and stressful process of home buying so much easier! She was a great coach and friend throughout the entire process. We recommend her to all our friends and everyone feels the same!
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Diana W.

Jeannie is an absolute gem to work with. She has just the right blend of patience, determination, thoughtfulness, and serious knowledge of the market and industry. You feel like you’re getting the best of the best when working ...
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Gene Y.

Our experience with Jeannie Gant is impressive. Jeannie took the time to get to know and understand us first, and what we were looking for in a house. She was attentive and a great communicator. She made home-buying, usually a ...
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Avani & Puneet D.

Jeannie was easy to work with and made the process seamless. She was helpful with her advice on locations to search for our home which would work for our lifestyle and budget. Through the process, I feel like I made a friend an...
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Deepti G.

What can I say about home buying? It is an experience that can be exciting, confusing, and scary all at once. However, I was very lucky to have an agent like Jeannie to hold my hand through the process. She is no ordinary real ...
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Jason C.

When I wanted to buy a home in San Francisco, Jeannie was a great advisor to work with through the entire process. Jeannie took time to learn who I was, what type of home I was searching for, and to coach me through the entire ...
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Mark & Michelle O.

As first-time home buyers, my wife and I felt very fortunate to have someone like Jeannie working for us. With her level of knowledge and expertise, she knew exactly what the sellers were looking for in an offer, which helped u...
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Grace C.

As a first-time buyer, I could not have found a better person to help me through the process. I had a list of things I thought I wanted (e.g. Open loft, victorian). Jeannie personally drove me around looking at exactly what I t...
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Sue W.

Jeannie walked us through our first time buying a home. Even though I’m sure we were asking a lot of annoying questions, she was endlessly patient and armed us with a wealth of knowledge. We looked at multiples houses every wee...
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Hailee L.

Jeannie was recommended to our family by a close friend who raved about his experience and we are so glad we chose to work with her. Jeannie was warm, knowledgeable, and guided us with expertise through the incredibly challengi...
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Sarah W.

Buying real estate in the bay area is not for the faint of heart. You definitely need someone like Jeannie on your side - she is a fantastic Realtor®️ who is extremely knowledgeable and patient. She seeks feedback so she can be...
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