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

Seller | Wayne & Dawn W.

A real pleasure to work with! Appreciated the team approach to selling our home. Each person along the way was at the top of their game and we felt like the top priority every day (despite the reality of many other happy client...

Seller | Joanne & Mike S.

Leigh Ehrlich Schiff & the entire Schiff Real Estate Team exceeded every expectation we had about selling our beloved home where we started our family. From the moment we met Leigh, she provided us with an in-depth overview of ...

Buyer | Jacqueline B.

We got to know Michael last fall when we started to look into buying our first home. Things to know about Michael. He is arguably the most responsive human to all forms of communication that exist - text, email, call, anything ...

Buyer | Justin M.

Michael and his team are awesome! We were moving from out of state and Michael was able to help us narrow our focus to an area that checked all the boxes for us. During our second trip, he helped us secure the house of our drea...

Buyer

As first-time homebuyers, my wife and I couldn't have been more satisfied with Michael as our agent. From the moment we first reached out, to all the questions and vendor recommendations we asked in between (and following closi...

Buyer | Seller

The Schiff Real Estate Team took the time to understand my situation, my priorities, and various comfort level with home sale-related issues. They knew my geographic area and price range and did an excellent job of marketing my...

Buyer

Michael helped us buy a new home and Leigh helped us sell our current one. Doing both at the same time was crazy and hectic, but they made it as smooth and easy as possible. Leigh's marketing strategy, thoughtfulness, and excel...

Buyer & Seller

I have spoken to and consulted over 50,000 real estate agents in the last 7 years. I know real estate and I know real estate agents. Working with Michael and Leigh Schiff has been an absolute pleasure. Michael handles the buyer...

Buyer & Seller

Michael helped us buy the lot and Leigh helped us sell the home. Working together, they saw the opportunity to build in a great neighborhood on a pristine lot. Leigh's marketing strategy, thoughtfulness, and excellent negotiati...

Seller

Leigh and her team are amazing. Leigh had our home under contract in less than a week after being on the market with another agent. Her ability to market, list, and sell our home quickly and for the best market price was invalu...

David P.

100% recommend the Schiff Real Estate Team. They did a fantastic job when it came to selling our home and purchasing the next dream home. We recently closed on the new home and we honestly could not have done it without the sup...

Seller

Leigh and her team were very professional and helpful in marketing and selling the home we lived in for 38 years. The marketing plan was noteworthy in deciding on the pricing strategy and developing an exceptional brochure to a...

Buyer | Seller - David K.

Michael and Leigh have helped us with three home purchases or sales since moving to Atlanta. They are extremely professional and very responsive. They have a great understanding of the market and were a huge help in selling our...

Seller | Diara S.

Leigh and the whole Schiff team are wonderful and exceed expectations! They are honest and caring and super responsive. Their #1 priority is their client's happiness and they work with you until the job is done. They sold our r...

Seller

We can't say enough about the Schiff Real Estate team! Leigh and her team were efficient and thought about every detail. They were responsive to all our questions, emails, and calls. They made the process of selling our home st...

Seller

Leigh and her team were a pleasure to work with. They always put their client's interests first. They are extremely knowledgeable about Atlanta real estate and are so responsive to their client's needs. I highly recommend them ...

Buyer | Seller

I was just telling my wife we should move if only to be able to use Schiff Real Estate! I cannot recommend enough Michael, Leigh and their entire team. No other team knows the Atlanta marketplace with this depth of knowledge an...

Seller

Hands down the best experience I have ever had when buying or selling a home. Couldn’t have asked for better or more communication throughout the entire process! The whole team was involved and made it a very simple process fro...

Ali L.

We cannot say enough amazing things about the Schiff Team! They moved very fast, were super knowledgeable, and sold our house in one day! They are efficient, communicative, and the best! Thank you so much for making the selling...

Seller

I cannot recommend Leigh highly enough. She is personable, professional, and extremely knowledgeable. She sold our difficult-to-sell house in record time!

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Schiff Real Estate Team

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