First-Time Home Buyers: Part One

Before I begin I just want to say I am in no way an expert; nor am I a licensed attorney, broker, finance-type person, or anything of the sort. We are just regular people trying to buy our first home. When we started this process we had absolutely no idea what we were doing! AND sometimes we still don't.
Yes, we had a few friends that had taken the plunge into being homeowners AND we both have home-owning parents BUT mostly we're doing this on our own.

I just wanted to share OUR experience (which is still on-going, we haven't closed yet) and what we have learned along the way.
This is going to be a multi-part post...
Not sure how many post yet, just enough to share our crazy journey.

  
About a year ago we decided we wanted to buy a house and we started discussing what we wanted (we were a long WAY from actually buying).
We started with the "fun" things: driving around neighborhoods, looking online, dreaming of one day owning a home, AND some intense Pinteresting on my part!! 
This actually became a important step in our process because we already had an idea of what we liked and didn't (layouts, counter tops, carpet, kitchen appliances, and whatnot)

The first thing we did was Make a Budget. See how much you can realistically afford and start saving. The house buying process is not cheap. There are MANY things you have to pay for before you actually buy the house (more on that later)!

Then about six months ago, we got "serious". We started the Pre-Approval Process. This helps you once you start looking, you don't want your dream home to get swept out from under you. If you are pre-approved you can go ahead and make an offer, once you find a house that you both love!
This is not a hard process, it's just lengthy. Your loan-officer will want a lot of documentations ( pay stubs, taxes from previous years, drivers license, social security card, etc.) Then they will look at your credit reports and perform an extensive financial background check. This was a problem area for us, not because we had bad credit....we just didn't have a lot of credit. Both my husband and I are young (23 and 24) so we don't have a lot of credit history. This didn't stop us from getting pre-approved it just lowered our approval amount. 
What that mean is that, we didn't get approved for as much as we budgeted for. Which in the long run was a blessing, because now we will have a little extra money in our bank accounts each month!

Next we Prioritized the things we both wanted in a house. We knew we both wanted a yard for our dogs, a nursery, and at least one extra bedroom. I would LOVE a huge closet, fireplace, and hardwood floors. Corey is a lot easier to please; he wanted a dishwasher (since he washes 99.9% of the time), a house that didn't need a ton of work (he says he's up for some DIY...we will see!) and a garage/storage area. 

Must Haves Back Yard 3 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms

Lindsey’s Wants Fenced in Yard Hardwood Floors Fireplace In a Neighborhood Big Closet

Corey’s Wants Dishwasher Larger Lot Minor Work Garage

Woo that's a lot to take in and we haven't even seen the inside of a house yet...
Up Next: Finding a Realtor, House Hunting, Bidding, Offer Accepted, Contracts, Closing Cost, and Much Much More!