Now that you have made the decision to buy a home, there are steps you need to take that will help your home searching process go more smoothly. Before you start home shopping, come up with a list of features you want in a home.

Start thinking of your dream home and what it looks like. How many bedrooms/bathrooms? How far of a commute are you willing to make for work? What school district do you want your children to go to? Will you want a home with a large yard? What sort of amenities does your dream home have - Fireplace? Attached garage?

Once you have envisioned your dream home, you’ll know what to look for. This will help you filter out homes that don’t match your description and make the process less overwhelming. Knowing what you want will help you find what you are looking for.

Next, you will want to figure out your budget. You wouldn’t want to fall in love with the perfect home only to find you can’t afford it.

You will need to determine how much to spend on a down payment. Typically, this will be 10% of the price of the home. For instance, if you can put down $25,000 you will be able to afford homes up to $250,000.

Next, you will want to determine how much you can afford on your mortgage payment each month. Google has a mortgage calculator available. All you have to do is type “mortgage calculator” into Google’s search bar, and it will appear for you. If we use the $250,000 price again, with a 4% interest over 30 years, your monthly mortgage payment would be $1,194. You can make adjustments to the calculator until you find a monthly mortgage payment you would hope to have. This will help you determine the price range for your future home.

Along these same lines, you will want to calculate the potential property taxes. With the property tax calculator on smartasset.com you will enter the location of where you want to live and the home value you’ve determined you can afford. This calculator will give you your annual tax amount based on the information you provide: https://smartasset.com/taxes/indiana-property-tax-calculator

You will also want to decide on an insurance company you want to use for home insurance and request a home insurance company.

Now that have the price range you can afford in mind, you will need to decide your preferred form of financing. The two most common options are using your bank or finding a mortgage lender. Look into your bank’s mortgage options and research potential lenders. This will help you determine which financing option is best for you.

Once you’ve made your financing decision, you will need to get pre-qualification from your mortgage lender or bank. You must be pre-qualified before you can put an offer on a home. These prequalifications have an expiration date, so if you do not find a home within 90 days, you will need to get another pre-qualification.

Finding a buyer’s agent will help your home searching process go more smoothly than if you were to search on your own. The James Embry Team has two great buyer’s agents ready to help you find your dream home, Brittany Janowski and Mary Mueller. You can find their contact information on our website: https://www.greaterindianapolishomefinder.com/about

Call, text, or email one of our agents today for more information, today!