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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Sara was great! She knows a lot about the housing industry. She knows how to stage your house for resale. I would highly recommend her as your realtor!

— Donna M.

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Sara DiDomenico was a fantastic help in selling our home and getting the best price possible for it. She was very professional and knowledgeable and took a lot of time helping us get the house ready for viewing. You could not do better than to have her as your agent!

— Dennis D.

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We used Sara as our agent to sell our home. In a very stressful situation, she held my hand, spent hours staging our house, guided us to price the house well, got the house full of viewers for the open house, steered us through accepting one of the nine offers, and became my best friend through one of the hardest times of my life. You could not ask for a better realtor.

— Patricia D.

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Having Sara on board as a realtor is like having a family member with expertise. She is very professional, compassionate, and pleasant. It was an absolute pleasure to work with her. She has an impeccable knowledge of the local housing market. She has the expertise and well connected to the people involved in the process. This made the entire home-buying experience stress-free in the competitive market. E...

— Buyer

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We entrusted Sara to list my mother's house after she had passed away. She was there for us at every turn. I live out of town and was not able to keep an eye on everything, but Sara was very proactive and worked with me suggesting many of the tasks we needed to do in order to get the house ready for sale. She used her our furniture and decorations to stage the house and even spent some of her own time an...

— Robert B.

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Sara is fantastic! She is super accommodating and very involved in the process. We never had to ask twice or remind her of anything. She is super knowledgeable of the area and a true pleasure to be around. Sara helped us with multiple challenges with ease. She helped us negotiate to get the deals when we were looking for our investment properties. I am so grateful for Sara and all the suggestions and adv...

— Pauline Y.

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Sara has been helping us with our real estate needs for a few years now. Whether it’s buying a new investment property or renting the investment property, she helped us with every single step and provided us with her valuable advice making it really easy for us to make our decisions. She has also been helping us decorate our house and our living spaces functional after we moved into our house making it a...

— Lin Y.

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Working with Sara was an absolute pleasure! She went beyond the call of duty in her efforts to list and stage our family home. Sara not only worked tirelessly to prepare and put the house on the market, she also transported and used her own personal furnishings to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere all throughout the house. Sara was also very helpful in recommending contractors to help with projects ...

— Carly F.

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Sara who was the realtor who listed my brother's townhouse as he lives out of state was more than helpful from start to finish. She was on top of everything as things needed to be done, from getting a painter, plumber, and electrician to a person to clean for the finishing touches. Never did we feel thing we were not moving smoothly if there was a question she was able to answer it. Sara is a very knowle...

— Jeanette S.

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I was relocating to New Jersey from another state, and Sara went above and beyond to get me into a rental property that fit my needs. She is professional, and personable, and genuinely made me feel like she had my best interests in mind. I highly recommend her services.

— Vince

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I could not be happier with my home selling experience. Sara took my stress away and walked me through the whole home selling process. She staged my home beautifully (it made me want to move back in!) and managed over 25 offers in 3 days - helping me understand and choose the right buyer for my home. I would recommend her to anyone buying or selling a home.

— Beverly Wiesler

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Sara is the consummate professional. She listened to every requirement that I had and constantly researched homes that might meet my criteria. She patiently showed me house after house after house until I finally found the perfect one and then worked with me through the entire process from beginning to closing! She is incredibly patient and has an eye for detail that really helped me find the perfect home!

— Lynne-Marie Sanders Mouiti

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Sara goes above and beyond making sure your real estate experience is a delightful one!

— LoDel Wayne

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Sara is awesome. Professional and compassionate to her work. A Quality realtor. I give her a five star!

— Chitra Shukla

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My purpose is to save you time and stress by streamlining the process from readying your property for listing to a completed sale. That's done by working towards your goals, wants, and needs. Contact Sara today to discuss all your real estate needs!

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SARA DIDOMENICO

(609) 820-1600

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251 Masonville Centerton Rd

Mt Laurel NJ 08054