Complete Guide for Florida Home Buyers

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My Testimonials

Kenny C.

Autumn and her team are outstanding We have had Autumn sell and buy a few houses. Always come through. Most importantly she is a solid good person with a strong family. Her team is on the spot. Thank you and Melissa too.

Buyer | Seller

One of the most honest, hard-working realtors out there. Autumn was just amazing, professional, and listens to what you need and want. She is an amazing person and a realtor! I will continue to work with her on all my future Ho...

Mike

I would highly recommend Autumn and her team to sell my home again if ever needed again. The online presentation photos of my home were outstanding as well as her follow-up. Autumn and her staff followed the sale all the way to...

Mike S.

Autumn is such a wonderful realtor. She has a real eye for the market, is never afraid to tell you her thoughts (which is such a great thing when you’re looking for a home), and is very communicative and available. Her assistan...

Buyer & Seller

Autumn has a very upbeat personality and was very easy to work with. We had a very high-end home that she sold and went above and beyond to do what was necessary to get the home sold. Due to this we also employed her services t...

Melissa M.

Autumn truly understands how to sell houses. She made the process incredibly easy and her thorough knowledge, not only of general real estate but of the local market made it a great pleasure throughout the whole process. She wa...

Pam C.

Autumn did a great job helping us sell our home! This is actually the 2nd house she has helped us sell and she also helped us buy one! She was always on top of deadlines and kept the sales on track. She even came up with a fanc...

Staci D.

Autumn is a Godsend in helping us sell our home quickly. She created a listing for our home that was polished, professional, and intrigued potential home buyers. We had multiple showings immediately and an offer within 2 weeks ...

Jack H.

Autumn and her group were so very helpful in offering suggestions to prepare my mother's home for sale. She was able to find a charity that was willing to help us "declutter" the house quickly. She also made several suggestions...

Tania T.

My husband and I recently had the pleasure of working with Autumn Makin from Lakefield Realty Group in navigating the current, challenging real estate market, and we cannot speak highly enough of her exceptional service and ded...

LatifAlianto

Autumn is very personable and a great help. We moved across the country all the way from WI to Clermont, FL and Autumn has been guiding us from the start. She contacted me initially 3 months before our visit to the area. We cha...

Edward Lynch

Wow Autumn has been the absolute best Realtor we have ever worked with! Such a kind, talented, intelligent and charismatic woman. We used 2 prior Realtors before her and our house did not sell. I decided to use Autumn after rea...

Buyer & Seller grammie52

I am not a person that trusts people easily, however, upon meeting Autumn for the first time I felt instantly at ease with her and trusted her. She is extremely professional and will absolutely go that extra mile to do whatever...

Buyer Lori

Autumn was a delight to work with. She genuinely cares about her clients and goes above and beyond without being asked. We were out of state buyers and it took several trips and months to find the perfect home. Autumn's patienc...

Clermont Seller

It was a pleasant experience. Autumn and Melissa were both very helpful and friendly. Our experience was stress free. Our house was sold within a week of putting the sign out.

Oakland Buyer

Working with Autumn was such a wonderful experience! She has such a good sense of the market and was incredibly helpful to us as first time home buyers navigating the market. We highly recommend Autumn!!

Suzen

Autumn has a very upbeat personality and was very easy to work with. We had a very high end home that she sold and went above and beyond to do what was necessary to get the home sold. Due to this we also employed her services t...

KatelynAponte

Autumn was great at answering all of our questions and making us very comfortable with the selling process. She is hard working and the best realtor out there.

Mount Dora Seller

Great agent always there during the process. Settled on a buyer the second day after posting. Always kept us informed of status of the closing. Provided use of backup personnel. Would recommend to othe friends and relatives

Robin Anderson

We loved every moment working with Autumn. From our initial phone call to meeting in person she made us feel like a longtime friend. Autumn is so personable and took the time to get to know our family and analyze our needs. Her...

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Buyer's Guide