Do you have questions about buying a house? Maybe you'd like to learn about the different types of mortgage loans, or how to shop for the right house. You've come to the right place!
The Home Buying Institute is one of the Internet's largest collections of home buying and mortgage advice. You'll learn about credit scores, mortgage loans, house hunting and other aspects of the home buying process.
How to Begin Your Journey
If this is your first time buying a home, you might not even know where to begin. Don't worry. That's only natural. Every first-time buyer feels hopelessly confused in the beginning. That's where we come in. Let's start with a quick overview of the process. The rest of this website will make more sense if you understand the sequence of events.
Here are the 11 steps recommended by the Home Buying Institute:
1. Start saving money for your home-buying expenses
2. Establish your housing budget
3. Review your credit reports and scores
4. Decide which type of loan works best for you
5. Get pre-approved for a mortgage
6. Find a real estate agent
7. Start shopping for a house
8. Make an offer to buy a house
9. Negotiate with the seller
10. Have the home inspected
11. Close the deal and get your keys!
You can research any of these topics by using the search tool at the top of this page.
While you might not understand some of the terminology on this list, you can see that it follows a logical sequence of events. Logical is the key word here. Many home buyers will skip certain steps along the way (usually steps 2 - 4). But this always comes back to haunt them in the end. That's why we emphasize our 11-step process for buying a house. It's designed to keep you out of hot water and make the process much smoother.
Buying a House in the New Economy
If you've been watching the news, you'll know that our housing market has changed dramatically in the last few years. Home values have plummeted. Foreclosure rates have skyrocketed. And our economy as a whole went into a full-scale recession. This presents certain challenges to someone who is buying a home in 2011. It's a lot harder to get a mortgage loan today than it was before the housing crisis.
I know this for two reasons. First, I research this stuff for a living. Secondly, I've had a personal experience with these changes. I bought a house in 2004, and then again in 2011. The mortgage-approval process was much harder in 2011. We had higher credit scores and better income the second time around, but that didn't matter. We had to submit more documents and jump through a lot of hoops before the loan finally went through.
So trust me when I tell you, it's hard to get approved for a mortgage these days. Hard, but not impossible. If you follow the 11 steps to buying a house that we recommend on this website, you'll greatly improve your chances for success.
Connect With a Mortgage Lender
If you refer back to the 11 steps to buying a house, you'll see that mortgage pre-approval is listed at #5. This is when a lender reviews your financial background (income, debts, credit, etc.) to determine if you're qualified for a loan. They'll also give you a maximum loan amount, which can be helpful during the house-hunting process. I highly recommend that you get pre-approved by a lender. It's not the first step in the process, but it is one of the most helpful.
You can learn more or get started on this page:
How to Get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage
I hope you find this guide to buying a home helpful. If you have any questions that are not addressed on this website, you can ask them here.