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 our team will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Passion & Expertise

Our goal is to provide you with the most personalized service possible, meticulously designed to help you navigate the process of buying your dream home. We are dedicated to understanding your unique needs and preferences, ensuring that every step of the journey is tailored to achieve your ultimate home-buying aspirations.

Schedule A Consultation

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Our Testimonials

See why our clients love working with us

RSW, Inc.

I’ve worked with many agents over the years, Wells and Ryon are the best of the bunch! Bonnie Wells has attention to detail that few can match. Her enthusiasm for real estate is apparent upon your first meeting. Bonnie goes abo...

Micky & Jen S.

We worked with Bonnie and Lindsay to purchase our first beach house. From the beginning, it was clear they had the feel of the market and guided us through the process effectively. Our process ended up competitive and their kno...

Tom & Kathleen L.

Bonnie Wells has been our broker for the past 20 years and we highly recommend her. She has the utmost integrity, she knows the market, is realistic on value, and is highly respected among her peers in the northeast. Bonnie wor...

Maggie D.

I have sold homes several times in the past, Bonnie Wells is, by far, the best realtor I have had. Her marketing efforts went above and beyond anything I could have imagined. She produced a very professionally done video, and m...

Neil & Roula C.

I wholeheartedly recommend real estate broker, Bonnie Wells. She is an incredibly hard-working, ethical, dedicated, charming, intelligent, and tenacious person. She used all of her well-honed skills to ensure that our home-buyi...

Steve W.

Bonnie Wells is the best in the business. She helped me sell two homes in Paramus NJ and buy a condo in Beach Haven NJ. One of these homes was a one-off, energy-efficient, earth shelter design that was referred to as a “knockdo...

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Working with Bonnie Wells is seamless and productive. She is knowledgeable, candid, hardworking, and always available. More, she is kind and helpful and, just all-around wonderful! Even during moments of stress (inevitable in b...

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Bonnie Wells' attention to detail in advertising our home was outstanding! The brochures for our home were absolutely beautiful. Bonnie is a hard-working realtor and will go the extra mile to get your house sold. Thank you Bonn...

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Simply the best in home sales and rental management. When a renter trashed our home, Bonnie came to the rescue. She was able to get it cleaned, repaired, and in pristine condition in record time and we didn't miss a beat. You w...

Bob Y.

Bonnie Wells and her team are amazing! I haven't rented in LBI in a long time but when I saw Bonnie's website and spoke to her on the phone I knew she was a "Rockstar" in what she does. Everything from start to finish was handl...

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Bonnie Wells

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