How do I get from my internet search to seriously buying a home?

With so many options available to us it’s difficult to know where to start in the home search. In this day and age, we can have most of the homes for sale right at our fingertips with sites like Zillow, Trulia or Realtor.com

. . . .Ugh, OK Yes you can start looking there but if you want to be serious about buying a home the very first thing you must do is speak with a mortgage consultant (and then a real estate agent, ME!)

What’s a mortgage consultant you ask? Why must I speak with them? Well let me tell you, the mortgage consultant is the very person who is going to tell you if a bank will finance your real estate purchase or not. Now I’m not a mortgage expert but basically how it works is they calculate how much income you make and then factor things in like debt that you have and money in savings. All of this, with your credit score determines if and for how much money you can spend on a home.

Because at the end of the day I can look at houses on Zillow until I’m blue in the face, but if I can’t finance the house, I’m not a serious buyer. It’s like going to the store with no money and no credit cards; all you can do is window shop.

Now you ask how do I find a good mortgage consultant? That’s where I come in. I love referring people to the very best in the business. You want to find someone who is friendly, timely and communicates well. Some mortgage consultants just hand you a piece of paper and you’re on your way, while others take the time to explain all the numbers and what your payments will be on different homes at different price points and are there to answer questions throughout. If you don’t come to me first, ask your friends and family who they used, and if they had a good experience or not. I always think personal recommendations are the best.

Once you’ve been approved, the second step is contacting me, where we can sit down discuss your needs and wants in a house and then start a real (serious) home search for you to get you into your first, second or tenth home.