First Steps to Buy a House

I tell every client the same thing: buying a house is a four-step process. And if you're reading this article, congratulations — you've already started step one.

Step 1: Find a good partner

Reaching out to connect with an agent is step one, and it's already a quarter of the way through the home-buying process. Finding the right partner to buy a home with matters more than most people realize going in.

Step 2: Build your team

Once you've got your agent, the next step is getting connected with good financing — the right lender for your situation. On both sides, it's worth doing multiple interviews before you commit. Super Bowls are won with a team, not an individual player. You need a good realtor and a good lender, and just as importantly, you need the two of them to actually work well together. From there, we set goals together — typically through a formal buyer's consultation, so everyone's working from the same plan from day one.

Once we're clear on your goals, there's one more thing I always nail down before we start touring: price, home, and location — you can typically only get two of the three at their best.

• Great home in a great location? The price probably isn't going to be great.
• Great price and a great home? The location probably won't be what you hoped for.
• Great price and a great location? The home itself likely needs some work.

I always ask clients to pick their top two priorities up front, before we ever start touring. That way, when we hit a property that's clearly compromising on something, we already know whether that's a compromise you're willing to make or one that's a dealbreaker — instead of figuring it out in the moment, house by house.

Step 3: Tour homes with real criteria

This is where we start touring homes — but tactically, not randomly. We build a clear criteria list up front so we're not wasting your time looking at homes that were never actually a fit. Think of it like being on a diet: if you're watching what you eat, you're not going to wander into an ice cream shop — you're going to a salad shop instead. Same idea here. We have a budget. We're not going to show you homes above it or below it, because your goals are our goals, and showing you the wrong homes doesn't serve either of us.

Step 4: Let the team close it out

Once we're in offers, this is where you let the team carry it across the finish line. Step four is genuinely the most crucial one — you have to let everyone do their job and avoid making any major changes during this window.

That means: don't buy a vehicle. Don't get married without telling us first. I'm only half joking on that last one — it happens more than you'd think. Congratulations if it happens to you, truly — but any major life change during the buying process needs to go through us first. No large purchases, no large transfers, no unexplained cash injections, nothing that could complicate your financing right before we get you into your home.

Ready to start?

You've already completed step one just by reading this. Let's set up an interview and get you moving — we'll take care of the rest.