The home buying process – a brief, step-by-step overview

This is the first in a series of segments highlighting Realtor.com's new Home Buyers Guide. Be sure to check back as much as you'd like for future additions to the home buying process!

We'll start here with The home buying process – a brief, step-by-step overview



If you’re like most people, buying a home represents your single biggest investment– and debt. As such, the home buying process can be one of the most exciting, but sometimes also stressful, experiences you ever go through. And this is true whether you’ve bought many homes or you’re looking to buy your first, whether you’re in the market for a new primary residence, an investment property or that perfect vacation getaway.

Moreover, never has the real estate market offered more great opportunities, or been fraught with more risks, than now. There are so many factors to consider and so many decisions to make. That’s why, when buying, it’s crucial for you to have all the available resources necessary to make a well-informed decision, together with the time required to make complete use of them. That’s also why you should
enlist the help of a trusted REALTOR® who’ll be able to provide you with expert consultation at each step of the buying process.

Generally, finding and purchasing a home includes the following steps, some of which are examined in more detail throughout [these posts]:

In this post, I give you the first step...

1. Define Your Goals, Research Your Options, Make Your Plans

Given that buying a home is such a big step, it’s all the more important for you to educate and prepare yourself as much as possible in advance. This means clearly determining why you’re buying and what kind of home you’re looking for. And because buying and financing a home are so closely related, it also means examining your current financial situation and projecting how much you can afford.

Once you’ve answered these questions even tentatively you’ll be in a better position to research your housing and mortgaging options, as well as create an action plan and timelines for moving forward. You may want to do this yourself, but you may also benefit by consulting an experienced REALTOR® right from the start.