First time home buyer first steps?

Hello, sounds like you are well on your way to the american dream. Keep your patters the same, dont rack up any more credit, try to reduce all your expenses that would show on your credit report. All those bills count against your income to qualify. Being 6 months out, you should start consulting a RE Agent and find someone you feel comfortable with. Then start looking to see what is available. Once you are about 2 months out, get in contact with a direct lender or your bank and get a lenders approval. Then when you are prepared to make an offer, if accepted, you will have financing in place. You dont want to place an offer, then to realize in the end you did not qualify for a mortgage in that amount. Going for a condo is your call. Depending on the area and the home values, and spread between SFR's and Condos, it may have a same payment of slighly less than buying a SFR. Reason being is the HOA dues and your insurance. Look at the numbers, and make an informed decision. Thanks.

I would add this. Personally, I would approach a loan officer first to make sure you will get an approval. Nowadays, technically you won't get pre-approved - you will get "pre-qualified."Talking to a lender will allow you to know what you can shop for - and to what loan amount.A good Realtor will want to know FIRST if you will likely be approved - and that will narrow your search.You are doing the right things.Good luck.

The first thing you can do is get a copy of your free credit report. Consumers are entitled to a copy of this periodically. Be careful where you get it because someone may wind up billing your card for a service you do not need. Be sure to cancel that service once you get a copy! Next, I recommend getting with a lender. Most likley this person has a Realtor contact. Then, before you "get in the car" you can take care of approval, or take necessary steps to make sure that once you find a house your loan will go through. Loan guidelines change a lot so you want to have someone you can maintain contact and keep up to date. Relationships are often tenuous between lender and Realtor and if you find a "team" that can help you the advice and process with be more consistent. Loan approval is a strong suit as a homebuyer because buyers have lost contracts to people who ultimately could not obtain the proper financing. Finally, if you are looking for a Condo, you need a copy of lenders questionaire for approval because not only do you need to be approved by the lender but the development itself will need to be as well. This sounds easy enough but many condos are not able to obtain financing because they cannot meet guidelines. Again, the Realtor may find you a great property but if it cannot get financing it is no good to you. The lender is better able to guide you on this than is your Realtor.

It sound slike you have a good idea of how to start the process. I have some ideas for you and am not to far from Horsham. We are located in West Chester, PA. Please call me at 610-344-9988 to speak about your search. Thanks!