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A Step-by-Step First Time Buyer's Guide

Buying a home is one of the most exciting milestones of your life. To prepare yourself for this moment, you need to know what to expect during the process. This step-by-step first time buyer’s guide created by our team will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

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Step 1: Research

Do you already know where you want to buy? If you want a condo, townhome, or single-family home? Which features do you like and dislike? What’s available on the market now? If you answered no to any of these questions, now is the time to start researching. In addition to looking for homes that interest you, also take note of any changes in asking prices. This could give you valuable insight into housing trends in specific neighborhoods and help you when the time comes to make an offer.

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Step 2: Decide on Your Budget

Notice we said to decide on your budget—not determine how much the mortgage company will give you. In many cases, a mortgage company will pre-approve you for more than you’re comfortable spending, which is why you need to determine the monthly payment you feel comfortable with before talking to a lender. This likely includes doing a full household budget and taking into consideration what changes other than a mortgage payment will occur once you move into your new home. If you’ve lived in an apartment or with roommates, you may overlook new expenses like garbage, water, or HOA fees that could easily blow your budget.

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Step 3: Get Prequalified

Just because you think you can afford a certain payment every month doesn’t mean the mortgage company will agree. Just as they may approve you for too large of an amount, they may also approve you for a lesser amount or deny you a mortgage altogether. Lack of time at a job, insufficient credit, past bankruptcies, or other financial issues can cause major problems when trying to secure a mortgage. Before you get your heart set on a home, talk to a mortgage professional to find out what amount you can qualify for. This will also be an advantage when you make an offer on a home, as some sellers won’t entertain offers from those who aren’t already prequalified for a loan.

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Step 4: Choose a Real Estate Agent

Can you shop for, look at, and ultimately make an offer on a home without a real estate agent? Technically yes, but why would you when it costs you nothing for agents like us to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will we help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but we also have a knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where our expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let us show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

Our goal is to provide you with the most personalized service that is designed to help you buy your dream home

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Step 5: Find the Right Home

This should be the most enjoyable step of the entire process (other than moving in!). We will arrange showings of homes you’re interested in that are within your price range. Take notes about what you like and don’t like, and make sure to pay attention to details. Turn light switches on and off, open and close doors, and run the faucets in various rooms. Don’t limit your inspection to the home itself. Make sure to take time to explore the neighborhood and keep an eye on traffic at certain times of the day, the parking situation, and how close it is to necessities like schools and grocery stores.

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Step 6: Make an Offer

Once you have selected the perfect home, work with your agent to craft a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes on the market. Depending on what the home is listed at and whether the current environment is a buyer’s or seller’s market, your offer may be below, at, or even above the asking price. We will be able to help you negotiate if you receive a counteroffer and reach an agreement. At this point, the house will go into escrow.

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Step 7: Have the Home Inspected

In most cases, your offer will be contingent on having the home inspected to ensure there is no major structural damage or large repairs needed. We can help you arrange this, and you can schedule it within days of making an offer. If there are no major issues, the process goes to step eight. If there is, you can renegotiate your offer based on what needs to be fixed, or you can withdraw it.

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Step 8: Select Your Loan

Now is the time to go back to the mortgage lender who pre-approved or pre-qualified you and choose your mortgage. You will be presented with various options based on your unique financial situation, including fixed-rate, variable-rate, 15-year, 30-year, or special programs such as VA loans or FHA loans. Work with your mortgage lender to select the option you feel the most comfortable with.

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Step 9: Get a Home Appraisal

Your lender will have your new home appraised so they have their independent value of it. The appraisal is to ensure that all parties involved are paying a fair price for the house.

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Step 10: Finish Paperwork

No one looks forward to all the paperwork involved in buying a home, but it’s a necessary part of the process. Fortunately, everything will be arranged by your lender and title company and, when you’re finished, you’ll know you are the legal owner of your new home.

Congratulations!

After signing the final paperwork to complete the purchase, you are now the owner of a new house. It may take a few days for your loan to be funded once the paperwork has been returned to the lender, but once that check is delivered to the seller, you’ll be all set to move into the home of your dreams.

What Our Clients Say

Adrienne recently helped my wife and me purchase a home in the Punta Gorda area. She has extensive knowledge of the area and the real estate market. She was very responsive to my inquiries and readily shared her knowledge. She really helped us figure out what exactly we were looking for and where we wanted to be. When it came time to make an offer, she walked us through the entire process and advocated f...

— Bill G.

What Our Clients Say

I worked with Adrienne in late 2020 in purchasing my home in PGI. As she is native to the area, I found her to be quite knowledgeable, very helpful, and easy to work with. She made my home-buying experience as smooth and easy as it could be.

— Bob L.

What Our Clients Say

Adrienne was very professional and took the time to listen to us. She found the perfect home, based on our list of priorities. She was also a great resource for local services. We highly recommend her to anyone searching for property in this area!

— Sue K.

What Our Clients Say

Adrienne knows the market in the Punta Gorda area, is very responsive, and is very pleasant to work with.

— Aude S.

What Our Clients Say

Adrienne handled all of the details when we bought our home in Burnt Stores Isles while residing in MA. I highly recommend her as a Real estate agent.

— Ken R.

What Our Clients Say

I really enjoyed working with Adrienne. After a few conversations, she knew exactly what I was looking for and I ended up purchasing a great home. She was working for me as opposed to just looking to sell someone a home!

— Rick P.

What Our Clients Say

Adrienne is a great realtor. She knows the market and resources that buyers need (e.g. insurance, banking, etc.). She helped us find a great home and we are looking forward to living in Punta Gorda. That said, I think her greatest strength is her people skills. On more than one occasion, she was able to talk me "off the cliff". She also is a great educator - she politely corrected my unrealistic expectat...

— George M.

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Had an amazing experience! Helped my parents and we found both of our homes! Extremely dedicated realtor and someone you want on your side when finding your home.

— Stela T.

What Our Clients Say

Adrienne Andreae recently represented my husband and me in the purchase of our new home in Port Charlotte, Florida. We could not be happier. Having sold Real Estate for 45 years in Missouri, I knew the first time I saw Adrienne on her YouTube Channel, "Get Your Florida Life", that she is the Realtor I wanted to use. I actually made contact with Adrienne a year before our actual move. Adrienne kept me inf...

— Toni

What Our Clients Say

I could not have enough positive things to say about working with Adrienne. She is professional, and communicative, and truly helped us find our perfect home. If we go on another home search - we will most definitely be using her as our go-to! Our family can’t thank you enough for all of the work put in for us!

— Michael P.

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