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A Step-by-Step Guide to Buying a Home

Buyer's Guide

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 your agent 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 I 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 an agent like me to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will I help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but I also have a knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where my expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let me show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

My 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!). I 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. I 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. I 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.

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Tyus E.
Monica & Allen H.
Client Success Stories

I was a buyer with a highly specific intuitive want for my wife and my retirement house. I had restored Victorian houses in the Galveston Historic District for the last 30 years, so my knowledge of standards for construction and aesthetic quality was high enough that I am sure most realtors would have gotten highly frustrated working with me. Nayeli Cutler was highly professional and patient with this old man and showed me dozens of houses over a 5-month period of time. She finally found me exactly what I dreamed of but never expected to find in Austin: a New Mexico architect's Santa Fe adobe style house, built into the hillside; with 3 kiva fireplaces; terracotta tiles; hand stripped logs in the ceiling; 5 wood planked corrals, a barn, 40+ trees in the front yard, and located in spittin' distance from 2 wineries and the Saltlick BBQ joint. Not to mention that the property was used for the set as the grandma's house in the Temple Grandin movie shoot. And it was within my upper price range! Stating I'm satisfied with Ms. Cutler's professional efforts is a gregarious understatement.

— Buyer

Client Success Stories

We were one of Nayeli's very first customers. From the start, she was professional, thoughtful, thorough, and accommodating. We would recommend Nayeli at any time for real estate services. We indeed intend to use Nayeli again when the need arises.

— Buyer

Client Success Stories

Based on my first-time home buyer experience in 2011, I can confidently say that Nayeli is the quintessential real estate agent. She was absolutely perfect in helping my wife and me find the right property and guided us through every step of the process. She always made herself available, which says a lot because the only times we were able to look at properties were after work hours or during odd times on the weekend. Aside from her real estate expertise, Nayeli has such a warm personality that made us feel comfortable when we were with her looking at properties, speaking with owners of those properties, or signing important paperwork. Some close friends of mine will be buying a home over the next year, and I will absolutely be recommending Nayeli to them.

— Buyer

Client Success Stories

Nayeli helped me find a place to live in 2010, and she's very personable and professional at the same time. I really appreciate her honesty. She makes it obvious that she's more concerned with you finding a place you love rather than just trying to get you somewhere to stay. I've worked with multiple real estate agents before, and she's been by far the best I've had.

— Lessee

Client Success Stories

The most detail-oriented team I've worked with! I bought my second rental property with this team, and I couldn't be happier. Highly recommend!

— Tyus E.

Client Success Stories

We loved working with our agent! We have bought and sold homes before, and our decision to use this team made all the difference from previous experiences. They went way beyond the call of duty to make our process as easy and stress-free as possible. We highly recommend this team to anyone.

— Monica & Allen H.

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Work with Nayeli

Buying or selling is more than a transaction—it's a deeply personal journey and one of your biggest financial decisions. Nayeli ensures you find dream properties supporting financial goals while experiencing seamless fulfillment. From 2007 to today, she's helped clients build real estate portfolios ranging from luxury homes to commercial property, always negotiating the best prices and terms in every market condition.

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Contact Details

Nayeli King

(737) 310-7373
[email protected]