Buying Your First Home in Seattle

Local Guidance From Your First Questions Through Closing

Buying your first home is exciting, but it can also bring a lot of questions.

How much can I comfortably afford? How much should I put down? Which mortgage program should I consider? What should I look for when touring a home? How do I make an offer? And what happens between an accepted offer and closing?

You don't need to have all of those answers before you begin. My role is to help you understand the process, explain your options, and provide practical guidance as you move toward purchasing your first home in Seattle or the surrounding communities.

Start With Your Financing

Before spending weekends touring homes, one of the most useful first steps is understanding what may realistically fit your budget.

A mortgage review can help you evaluate your potential purchasing power, down payment, estimated monthly housing expense, closing costs, and available financing options before you become emotionally invested in a particular home.

Depending on your circumstances and qualifications, financing options may include Conventional, FHA, VA financing for eligible borrowers, first-time homebuyer programs, low-down-payment options, and fixed- or adjustable-rate mortgages.

There isn't one mortgage that's appropriate for every buyer. Your income, credit, assets, debts, down payment, property type, and longer-term plans can all influence which options may be appropriate.

How Much Home Can You Comfortably Afford?

Qualifying for a particular loan amount doesn't necessarily mean that amount will fit comfortably within your monthly budget.

Your potential housing expense may include:

• Principal and interest
• Property taxes
• Homeowners insurance
• Mortgage insurance, when applicable
• Homeowners association dues, when applicable
• Utilities, maintenance, and other homeownership expenses

For first-time buyers especially, I believe it's important to understand the overall monthly housing expense, not simply the maximum loan amount for which you may qualify.

If you're still in the planning stage, an affordability calculator can provide a useful starting point. Calculator results are estimates rather than a loan approval, but they can help you begin thinking about the relationship between income, debts, down payment, and home price.

Get Pre-Approved Before You Find the Home

Once you're seriously considering buying, the next step is moving from general estimates to a mortgage pre-approval.

A pre-approval can provide a clearer understanding of your potential purchasing power and may help identify financing or documentation questions before you're ready to make an offer.

The process generally involves reviewing information about your:

• Income and employment
• Credit history and monthly debts
• Bank and other asset accounts
• Down payment and available funds
• Anticipated property and occupancy
• Other information relevant to your loan program

Depending on your circumstances, supporting documentation may include recent pay stubs, W-2s, tax returns when applicable, bank or investment statements, and other documentation required for the loan.

Starting early gives us time to review the information and address questions before you find a property.

Then Start Your Home Search

Once you have a better understanding of your financing and price range, you can focus your search on homes that fit both your needs and your budget.

Before we begin, we'll talk about priorities such as location, commute, property type, size, features, and other considerations that matter to you. Seattle-area real estate can vary considerably from one neighborhood and community to another.

Review the 9 Steps to Owning a Home

Evaluating the Right Home

When you find a property that interests you, there's more to consider than listing photos and asking price.

As your real estate broker, I can help you review factors such as comparable sales, current competing listings, property condition, disclosures, market activity, and other characteristics that may be relevant to your decision.

The objective isn't simply to find a house. It's to help you evaluate whether a particular property makes sense for you.

Preparing an Offer

Finding a home you like is only part of the process. The next step is deciding whether—and how—you want to make an offer.

An offer involves more than price. Depending on the property and circumstances, we'll discuss important terms such as earnest money, financing, inspection, appraisal, closing date, contingencies, and other provisions of the purchase agreement.

I'll also help you review relevant comparable sales and current market activity so you have useful information when deciding how you want to structure your offer. The final decisions are always yours. My role is to explain the considerations and help you understand your options.

From Accepted Offer to Closing

Once your offer is accepted, the real-estate and mortgage processes begin working alongside each other.

Depending on your transaction, the remaining steps may include the home inspection, appraisal, mortgage underwriting, title and escrow work, review of loan and closing documents, final loan approval, signing, funding, and closing.

Ready to Take the First Step?

You don't have to be ready to buy a home tomorrow to start preparing today. Choose the starting point that best fits where you are in the process.