If you have been saying "someday we will buy" for months, this guide is for turning someday into a date. Seven steps. The first three you can do this week without spending a dollar.
1. Check your credit, today
Get your free credit report. Make sure everything on it is yours and there are no errors. If there is an old debt you do not recognize or a payment marked late that you actually made, you can dispute it. Fixing an error can raise your score before a lender ever sees it.
If your credit is thin or does not exist, do not stop here. There are lenders who work with alternative history: rent, electricity, phone. That is a question for step 3.
2. Put your papers in one folder
A lender will ask more or less the same from everyone:
- Two years of tax returns
- Two months of pay stubs, or if you are self-employed, business bank statements
- Two months of bank statements
- Valid ID, and your Social Security number or ITIN
If you are self-employed, paid in cash, or have more than one income, do not worry. There is a way to document it. Just tell it exactly as it is from the start.
3. Talk to a lender
Not the bank where you have your account because it is the one you know. A lender who works with families like yours. That conversation is free and gives you three numbers: how much you can buy, how much you need saved, and what your monthly payment would be.
Ask which programs apply to you: low down payment loans, down payment assistance in your city or state, ITIN loans. If you do not get clear answers, talk to another one.
4. Set your number, not the bank's
The lender tells you the most they will lend. You decide how much you want to pay each month and still sleep well. That is your number. Include taxes, insurance, and if it applies, the HOA fee. Your agent and your lender help you translate that monthly payment into a home price.
5. Choose your agent
This is where we come in. Enter your zip code on the home page and meet the agent for your area: speaks Spanish, licensed, knows the streets where you want to live. For you as the buyer, in most cases the service is paid by the transaction. Ask on the first call.
6. Make your needs list
Three columns: what you absolutely need, what you would like, and what you do not want. Close to work, to school, to family. How many bedrooms. Yard or no yard. With that, your agent sends you homes that are actually worth your time.
7. See homes with a plan
Visit in person. Go at different times. Walk the block. Turn on the faucets, run the AC, look at the roof from the street. Ask uncomfortable questions. Your agent is there to answer them and to tell you what the photos do not show.
What happens next
When you find the home, the rest has its own rhythm: offer, inspection, appraisal, closing. Usually 30 to 45 days. We have another complete guide on that process, step by step.
Start today
Step 1 takes 15 minutes. Step 2 takes an afternoon. Step 3 takes a phone call. When you have those three, enter your zip code and meet your agent. The rest we do with you.