Sharing with you that it wasn’t an easy process, and it took a lot to get me here, but I’m grateful for everyone who has helped contribute in some way. 

Tips for First Time Home Buyers

1. 1. Start the research early. Speak with a mortgage broker early on. We started the conversation eight months before we bought the property. We bought a new construction, but I would recommend early on to know what to budget for so that you become knowledgeable about the whole process.
   2. Make sure you don’t work with too many mortgage people. I made the mistake of evaluating using three different brokers. Fortunately, I did get a pretty incredible rate, but it was quite stressful having to send so many documents. 
   3. Focus on getting your credit score up. Luckily, my in-laws and my wife were pretty good about holding me accountable for doing the best I can to get my scores up. I was able to get my score up by a whole 100 points which significantly reduced my interest rate. 
   4. Chat with your financial advisor to figure out what the new budget is going to be. This will give you peace of mind and allow you to be intentional about your range when working out your monthly costs. 
   5. Make sure you have all of your bank statements, pay stubs, W2s for the last three years ready. You want to be proactive about getting your statements early- create a folder with all of these. It will help expedite the process. 
   6. Stay in communication with your mortgage people regularly. If anything comes up and there is no such thing as a stupid question. I had so many questions because this was my first time and if you to be as knowledgable as possible. 
   7. Make sure you stay organized because you will be getting so many emails and documents. Make sure you organize them in a way that is easy because there will be many things and tasks for you to accomplish. This will make your life easier as you will be referring back and forth a lot.
   8. Make sure you are throughout when going through the appraisal and check-in process. We are fortunate enough to have a new property, so there weren’t as many issues, and we were relatively on time with the closing. There are so many nuisances, so make sure your real estate agent attends the walkthroughs with you. It’s nice to have another set of eyes to look at everything. 
   9. Save up to 20% on the downpayment so that you don’t have to worry about mortgage insurance. I know that not everyone has a 20% deposit, but this will make your life easier so that you don’t have to pay extra money to take out a mortgage. 
   10. Have fun throughout the process. It’s a learning process, and although the process can be quite stressful. I’ve grown so much, and I’ve become a much better person during this process. Hit me up if you ever have any questions, and I’ll help you the best I can.