Buying a home in New England?
That’s exciting!
But it’s probably a little overwhelming, too — what does the home buying process look like? How can you make sure you get a good deal? How do you find a real estate agent you can trust? What can you expect throughout the entire journey?
At Old Harbor Properties, we’ve been buying and selling real estate in New England for a long time… and we thought we’d help answer some of those questions.
In this guide, we’re going to walk you through the home buying process in New England so you have a better idea of what to expect and how to navigate this exciting but overwhelming time.
dive in!
By the way, if you want to sell the property where you’re currently living, give us a call at (781) 208-7362 we can make you a fair cash offer, buy as-is, and close in as little as two weeks!
Step 1. Find The Right Time
The first thing you have to do is determine if it’s the right time to buy a home — the right time for you, your family, and for the market.
More specifically, try answering the following questions…
- Do you have the money for a down payment?
- Do you have the money to relocate?
- Does moving make sense for you and your family?
- Is it a good time to buy a home right now?
Your answers will help you determine whether you should buy now or wait until later.
Step 2. Determine Your Budget
If you’ve decided that it’s a good time to buy a home, the next step is to get a ballpark idea of your budget before you speak with a mortgage lender or real estate agent.
(Those people might try to get you to spend more than you want to)
Determine how much you want to spend on a home, how much you can afford for a down payment, and most importantly, how much you can afford for a mortgage payment.
You can then browse on Zillow to get an idea for the type of homes that are in your price-point.
Step 3. Find a Mortgage Lender
Before you find a real estate agent or start looking for homes, you need to speak with a mortgage lender.
This person will help you apply for a home loan and also help you estimate how much your mortgage payment will be for specific price-points.
The higher your credit score and the more money you have for a down payment, the better deal you’ll be able to negotiate with the mortgage lender.
Definitely check online reviews before choosing a lender!
Step 4. Search For Homes
Now we’re to the fun part.
Once you’ve found a mortgage lender and got pre-approved, you can start looking for homes!
There are a few different ways to go about this.
The traditional way is to find a real estate agent and have them help you look for, research, and peruse properties.
However..
Unless this is your first time buying a home and you have no idea what to expect, we recommend NOT using a real estate agent when looking for homes.
Why?
Because A) you can look for homes at your leisure and in your price-point without an agent trying to pressure you and B) when you find a home that you want to make an offer on, you can ask the seller’s agent to represent you.
That second point is important — it means that the agent will be motivated to get the seller to accept your offer because they won’t have to split the commission with another agent.
This is a nice tactic if homes are going quick and you want to get a leg up on other people’s offers.
Step 5. Make an Offer
Eventually you’ll find a home you love and make an offer.
If you’re working with a real estate agent, then they will help walk you through this process and determine what offer you should make.
The offer you make depends on the asking price, the state of the real estate market, and also how badly you want to buy the home.
If there’s a lot of demand, then you might even try including an escalation clause, which says that you’ll outbid any offers from other buyers.
If there’s not much demand, then you might come in a little under the asking price.
Step 6. Inspection & Appraisal
Once you and the buyer agree on a price, it’s time for inspections and appraisals.
The inspection is to check for hidden damages and ensure that the home you’re buying is in good shape — or at the very least, that you know what you’re getting.
The appraisal is for the mortgage lender to ensure that they’re paying the proper amount of money for the home.
Step 7. Sell Your House & Move
If all goes well, then you’ll set a closing date where the home officially becomes yours!
This means that if you own your current home, you’ll also need to coordinate the sale of that house to line up with when you can move into the new house.
This can be a little tricky.
And if you’re going to sell the traditional route, we recommend listing your home well before you start searching for a new home.
Otherwise, you can give us a call at (781) 549-0271 and we can buy your home as-is for cash. We can close in as little as two weeks (you pick the closing date) and we’ll even pay all closing costs!
That’s the home buying process.
Good luck!
Who is Old Harbor Properties?
We are local New England residents that focus on buying properties off-market (with no commissions) for cash. We are not “flippers” or “investors” looking to pay pennies on the dollar. We are local Sox fans with families and we focus on buying rental properties. This allows us to make fair market value offers based on comparable sales and needed repairs. If you want to sell the property where you’re currently living, give us a call at (781) 208-7362 we can make you a fair cash offer, buy as-is, and close in as little as two weeks!
