Buying your first home can be a bit overwhelming. You are getting ready to make one of the biggest purchases of your life but you are not sure where to start or if you are even ready to make that first step toward home ownership. Of course, one thing that you should do is to find a real estate agent to help you through the process of finding that perfect house to the final closing and getting the keys to your new home. Before you begin your search for a real estate agent there are some things that you should do first.

One of the first things that you should do is make sure that you are both financially and emotionally ready to buy your first home. If there is any chance that you may be relocating due to graduating college or your job then it may be better to wait to buy your new home. If you do not have the money for a good size down payment, the closing cost, or other expenses you should also put off purchasing a home. Basically you should look at your life, your career, future expectations, and what your finances are at this time before making the decision as to whether to buy a home or not. In addition, when looking at your finances you need to make sure that you can afford the monthly payments and can save some money each month for unexpected repairs or expenses relating to you new home.

The next thing that you need to do is to get your finances in order because there are some real estate agents who will not even show homes to you unless you have a preapproval mortgage. To do this you need to meet with your banker or mortgage broker to find out just how much house you can afford along with how much down payment and closing cost you will need to have along with other expenses like homeowners insurance. You should also have a good credit rating because if not it may make it hard to get a preapproval mortgage and even if you do manage to get one it could take several months to get it.

Once you have all your finances in order and a preapproval mortgage it is time to find that right real estate agent. You want one who is actively watching the market daily so when a house that meets your needs comes on the market the real estate agent can let you know and set up a time for you to see it.