Buying a home, especially if it’s your first time, can be both exciting and a bit overwhelming. Understanding the steps in the process and evaluating your strengths and weaknesses can help keep the process more enjoyable and can also help you more effectively reach your housing goals. If you have not yet decided to utilize a real estate agent or are confused by the whole subject of agency, you may want to see how Agency in Minnesota works out in most real estate transactions.

1. Define Your Ideal Home Where do you want to live and what kind of house do you want or need.

2. Determine What You Can Afford – Narrow your field further by determining a price range. Also, a good time to connect with a loan officer.

3. Start Searching for Homes – This should be the fun part. It’s time to start shopping.

4. Make and Negotiate an Offer – Now is the time to make sure you have all the information you need to make informed decisions.

5. Have the Home Inspected – Make sure the person is accredited with one of the major Home inspection organizations.

6. Apply For the Loan - For the few of you that have enough cash to cover it or that have Seller financing, you can skip this step.

7. Pre-Closing - The closing company springs to action, but your main focus is still making sure your loan goes through.

8. Final Walk-Through - If the previous steps have been done with due diligence, there should be no unpleasant surprises here.

9. Closing – The exciting finale. Don’t let Buyer’s Remorse keep you from enjoying the thrill of getting the keys to your new home.