Are you looking to buy a home? This comprehensive video guide by San Diego Realtor Katy Carlson will take you through the entire process, from start to finish. You'll learn everything you need to know, including how to find the right property, make an offer, and get approved for a mortgage.

So whether you're a first-time homebuyer or just looking for a refresher course, this video is for you!

Hi, my name is Katy. I'm with Whissel Realty. And today I want to talk about the home buying process. Now, whether you're new to this or it's just been a minute, it can feel really overwhelming to know what to do and when to do it. Here at Whissel, we have a really simple seven-step program that's going to take you from beginning to end. Meet with an agent, meet with a lender, look for homes, make an offer, enter escrow, renegotiate, and then sign on the dotted line.

That's when we get to hand you your keys. My favorite part. So let's just focus on the first three steps, which is meeting with the realtor, a lender, and then looking for homes. This is actually where we see a lot of people starting their home search. And it's understandable because it's really easy to pop open your computer and type in your criteria for bathrooms, such and such, and you feel like you're on a roll. But if that's where you are at, it's okay. I highly encourage you to hit pause and align yourself with a realtor. If you don't have one, I would absolutely love to volunteer.

The cool thing is, is you don't have to pay money to meet with me or any other realtor, especially when you're on the buy side. That is all taken care of through the sell side. So how cool is that? Now, once you start talking to your real estate agent, one of the first questions that you will get is, have you met with a lender? This is where I start to feel people clam up and say, "Oof, I'm not quite ready for that." That's okay. It's not as scary as it may seem. The goal here is to become very aligned with your price point. This is so important because if you are looking at homes that are $650,000 and you can actually be at 750, that's cool. But how much time did you waste here?

Conversely, if you're looking at 850 and you find out you really only qualify for a 750, it's so painful. So I don't want this to happen to you. And if you do not have a lender that you feel comfortable working with, I highly recommend that you go with your realtor's suggestion. All realtors are going to have somebody in place that they trust, that they love working with, and that they know are going to take really good care of you. On top of that, you've already got a team in place cheering for you, fighting for you in your corner. So that's an absolutely amazing first and second step. On top of that, you're also going to get a pre-qualification letter. We'll talk about that here in a moment.

Now we get to do the fun part and look for homes. This is so much fun. Of course, I'll be sending you homes. You are going to be looking for homes. I know you're so good at that. But once you find some that you would like to take a look at, all you have to do is say, "Hey, Katy, I loved home two and four that you sent me. I also have A and B that I'd like to see." Guess what I do? I get on the phone and I set you up a private tour. And a lot of times, we can do this all in one swoop. So you have your own tour guide when you're looking for homes.

This is fantastic. All right, now here's the important part. Once you find a home, it is so important that you are ready to hit the go button and make an offer. Whether we're in a slow market or a hot market, all it takes is one other offer to pull the home that you love off the market and then you're left with nothing. So you already have the pre-qualification letter in place, which is absolutely necessary for putting in an offer because you've spoken to your lender. And I've been working on the back end to pull all of the important information out of the sell side.

Have there been any offers? What are the sellers looking for? So that when it comes time, I know how to take what you want to get out of this offer and align it in a way that's going to look really appealing to this sell side. So I hope that this will help you understand the importance of moving in this order, meet with an agent, talk to a lender, and then let's get out there and have some fun looking at home so that we can get you your dream space. I can't wait to connect. Reach out anytime.

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