Buying a home doesn’t mean bidding on foreclosures or waiting more than a year for a short sale in the Pacific Northwest. When you choose a residential home builder with several starter home floor plans, you aren’t stuck with someone else’s leftovers. By building on your lot, you pick the neighborhood you desire.
There are several steps to take when purchasing a home, whether online or through a real estate agent, each with risks or costs. When you buy a home through an online auction site, you could be taking a chance on the housing itself or a misstep in the process. Working with a real estate agent can add to buying or selling real estate costs on top of purchasing the home itself. Working with a residential home builder, on the other hand, starts with an interest in owning your home on your chosen lot.
Rather than stick with the classical home buying process, we’ll explain how we simplify the home buying process in three easy steps.
Here are the Steps to Buying a Home for the First Time with HiLine Homes
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First Step: Talk to a HiLine Homes Consultant about Your Home Buying Process
Your first step to buying a home would be to find an expert to guide you. A new home consultant can provide you with information on different starter homes that might work for your family and provide you with financing information. You must meet certain requirements, such as having a fair to high credit score, similar to other routes to homeownership. Generally, lenders require home buyers to have a minimum credit score of 620.
HiLine Home Consultants guide first-time homebuyers through home mortgage options, explaining the different mortgages you can qualify for. For example, you may want conventional home loans from banks if you have a decent credit score, or you may prefer a loan from the government if you have lower credit scores and are looking for a minimal down payment.
You can become pre-qualified for a loan before you choose a specific floor plan, and in some cases, you can receive up to 100% financing packages. You can get ahead of the process and explore our list of approved lenders who work with us to provide the best interest rates and payment terms.
Better yet, first-time home construction grants from financial institutions and non-profit organizations do not require repayment.
But what about mortgages later on? You can even apply for mortgage payment assistance from the Homeowner Assistance Fund. Those looking for a more expensive home can take a Jumbo Loan if they have an excellent credit score.
Once you’ve chosen your type of loan, your lender will require you to get home insurance for your first home. In real estate, it is cheaper to insure a new home than older constructions due to having lower risk profiles.
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Next: Visit a Model Home for Home Buyers
A step in the right direction would be to experience a home. One of the great things about the modern technology is that you can get a good feel for a home by looking at photos online or taking virtual tours. But it’s also important to visit a model home or showroom to know what walking through a custom home is like, nothing beats the physical experience of a potential home, after all. By touring a model, you can better understand what kind of appliances, flooring, fixtures, and finishes appeal to you as a first-time homebuyer. Bring family and friends to this next step so you know how the space feels.
Visiting a model house can be fun, but it is also crucial that you don’t miss important details that can affect your real estate construction. To get the most out of your model house visit, we recommend the following:
- Review the floor plan of the model house before visiting. With the dimensions in mind, you can visualize possibilities to enhance them. For example, a model home may not have that extra bedroom. However, it has a wall to which an additional dwelling unit can be connected to the home.
- Take notes of what you do and don’t like for each model home you visit. Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions!
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Your New Beginning: Start the Buying Process with Land for Custom Housing
In this step, there are a lot of factors to consider in the buying process for land. To be successful, make sure you visit the surrounding area of the real estate. Talk to neighbors if possible and take note of their homes to know what aesthetics to follow. Make sure to set up a visit with the listing agent so you’re not trespassing. Also, when buying the land, don’t forget about the closing process. Closing costs can be 2-5% of the land loan. Your real estate agent will guide you through that part of the buying process.
Once your own home is built on your property, the house and land will go through mortgage refinance. Refinancing the mortgage replaces the old mortgage on your land and becomes the new mortgage for the land and house.
Building Your Home with HiLine Homes
Many home buyers experience buyer’s regret when they buy a short sale or foreclosure that turns into a real estate money pit. By choosing new construction, you have less maintenance, fewer hassles, and more energy efficiency built into the house from the start.
Having a home is a significant investment that must be made by decisions you want to live with. While you can choose to buy a house, there is also the option to build. The steps to buying a home through home construction help you get closer to having your dream home at the very beginning.
Your first home’s construction is made easy by having a consultant to guide you, model homes to see the big picture, and a real estate agent to help you purchase land. These are the three easy steps to buying your first home with HiLine Homes: by building it.
After all, building a home gives you more freedom than purchasing one. You can choose where to live, what the look of your home is, and what the floor plan of your home is. At HiLine Homes, we specialize in custom homes on your lot in the Pacific Northwest. Are you ready to take the first step? Consult with a HiLine Homes Consultant for free today.
