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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. I may be able to steer you away from certain homes or neighborhoods, suggest hidden gems, or give you pointers that will help you find your dream home for the right price.

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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We were lucky to have Xiaoxing as our agent. She is very knowledgeable and helpful. She always provided us with honest opinions about the pros/cons of houses we were searching, for and help us make reasonable offers based on th...
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My wife and I were first home buyers, and we were very lucky to have Xiaoxing as our agent. We had a limited budget, and we entered the housing market at a crazy time when there was a bidding war at almost every listed property...
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As first-time home buyers, we're fortunate to have Xiaoxing representing us throughout the entire process. She has our needs at heart and is efficient, responsive, and helpful in every way. Due to low inventory this year, she h...
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Seller

In October, I commissioned Xiaoxing Zhao to help me sell the house, because I was not in the United States, all matters were entrusted to her to handle, including the house cleaning, maintenance, and inspection. Even all my lug...
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Buyer

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We had a great experience working with Xiaoxing and she helped us get our first house. We are first-time home buyers so we are not familiar with how to buy a house and how to maintain it at all. Xiaoxing is very knowledgeable a...
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Fantastic local agent, Xiaoxing was super helpful in guiding us through our first home purchase, looking through many homes and digging into the background of homes that had bids or stood on the market for a while. She's super ...
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We have Worked with Xiaoxing to buy our house with Xiaoxing recently. What most impressed us is that Xiaoxing is well connected with the local community. With her recommendation, we have obtained a whole package of effective se...
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It is a great experience to work with Xiaoxing as a first-time buyer. She is very professional and knowledgeable. As a local, she knows Millburn/Short Hills very well. She is patient, responsive, and efficient. For each show, s...
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Xin

It is a great experience to work with Xiaoxing as a first-time buyer. She is very professional and knowledgeable. As a local, she knows Millburn/Short Hills very well. She is patient, responsive, and efficient. For each show, s...
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Buyer

If you see the 4-star rating on Xiaoxing's profile, that is purely my mistake. I did not mean to rate her as a 4 start and I tried everything I could to alter the rating but seems did not work. Xiaoxing is very kind and respons...
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Seller

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Buyer

Xiaoxing is such a patient, responsible, responsive, diligent, and experienced agent. She is very helpful during our house searching and gave frank opinions about the houses. She helped us a lot going through the buying process...
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Buyer

Thanks, Xiaoxing for helping us buy the house we like in Morristown. She is the most effective and responsible agent that I ever met. We have seen more than 50 houses. She is patient to answer all the questions we have. She is ...
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Zhiqiang M.

Xiaoxing helped us get the house in the competition! I have to admit the current market is a bit crazy - bidding wars and multi-offers are common. We almost gave up and thought the house shopping would end up with nothing this ...
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Lindsay

Xiaoxing helped us purchase our new home recently. It was a great experience working with her. She is very knowledgeable and knows the Millburn area really well. She’s a very nice person, always responsive and patient with all ...
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Seller

Great experience working with XiaoXing selling the place during the pandemic. She is very considerate with careful planning and made very easy for all parties, tenants, buyers, and me. Great negotiations and recommendations whe...
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Seller

Xiaoxing is the best Realtor® I ever met. She was very nice and considerate. Since I was not at home most of the time, she took care of my house and let me feel the whole process of the selling house hassle-free. Would definite...
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Buyer

We had a great experience working with Xiaoxing. She is very patient and always helped us to analyze the pros and cons of the house during showings. She is very responsive, familiar with the local market, and very flexible with...
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Highly positive experience. Always responded quickly to my questions in a satisfactory manner. Was able to get my transaction completed in a short period of time.
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