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Google “mortgage calculator.” Figure out how much house you can afford with the down payment you have and monthly payment you’re comfortable with. Search Zillow and Realtor apps for houses in the neighborhoods you’re interested (hopefully your budget and neighborhoods line up). Set up an auto alert in those apps for when new listings come on the market. Once you’re actually ready to put in an offer, get pre-approved by a lender and find a realtor to take you on showings (you don’t have to work with your own agent but I would/did). The market is HOT right now (at least where I live), so houses often go on and off the market within a few days. Good luck! It’s an exciting purchase!
Following cuz same. Good luck!
The market is weird right now so it’s good you are waiting until 2022. Best thing you can do is create lists of what you absolutely must have vs what would be nice to have. Start looking at open houses in neighborhoods that you may be interested in so that you get a vibe of what houses/people there are like. Kids? Obviously research daycares and school districts, but also what extra curriculars are in the area. Get pre-approved now so that you know what your price range is. Do you want a fixer upper or move in ready? Budget renovations with a cushion. Save as much as possible for a down payment so you don’t have to pay PMI. Buy holiday themed decorations on sale now so that you have them ready for the new place.
The advice on here is great, so I’ll try not to repeat anything already said, but things to keep in mind are that you can change a lot of things about a house but not its location! So if you have a price point that you wanna stick to, keep this in mind. You’ll be surprised the things you learn to live with that you couldn’t picture when you were looking. However, make sure your town doesn’t have weird ordinances that prevent changes you may want to make. Also, once you figure out your price point, make sure you have at least 20% saved. This will make you a more attractive offer if the market is still hot like it is now, and will save you extra costs like PMI etc (which even with lower rates, still add up SO much over time). Finally, get a good realtor that knows the market well and a responsive attorney. Our attorney was non responsive at critical times and we almost lost our house. It made the process incredibly frustrating but luckily our realtor and mortgage broker were both amazing and made it happen. Good luck!!
I second finding a good realtor (and figuring out the skill set you need from the realtor). We asked friends for recommendations and ended up with a realtor who had a prior career in commercial real estate and was amazing on the deal side, but not the best at vetting listings (we were picky enough to do that job). He was able to set up an MLS search for us months before we wanted to buy so we could get a sense of the market/pricing in areas we were less familiar with. Also, when we were in the early stages of looking, our realtor referred us a mortgage broker with whom he worked regularly. The mortgage broker ended up finding us a loan that we pre-qualified for with great terms given our careers ($0 down, no PMI, 2% interest). Definitely recommend getting pre-qualified, especially if you’re buying in a hot market and/or are unsure what you can afford.
Check out the neighborhood at different times for noise, activity, etc. Don’t buy at the top of your budget. Our rule is that we must be able to meet all expenses on only one of our salaries, which will (hopefully) keep us steady if we face any unforeseen obstacles (job loss, illness, etc.)
If you’re at a big law firm, check to see if your firm has a relationship with a bank. I just got a very low interest rate and a loan with only 10% down. It makes a huge difference in what you can afford, especially if you plan to stay where you are and know you’ll be making more money in a year or two.
Second this. Total game changer.
When you know what your budget is and what you're looking for get pre-qualified it makes life so much easier when you're ready to make an offer. Happy future house hunting also if you are not purchasing an older home make sure to pay extra for foundation insurance it will save you a ton on the back-end!