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Buyer's Guide

A Step-by-Step First Time Buyer's Guide

Buying a home is one of the most exciting milestones of your life. To prepare yourself for this moment, you need to know what to expect during the process. This step-by-step first time buyer’s guide created by your agent will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

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Step 1: Research

Do you already know where you want to buy? If you want a condo, townhome, or single-family home? Which features do you like and dislike? What’s available on the market now? If you answered no to any of these questions, now is the time to start researching. In addition to looking for homes that interest you, also take note of any changes in asking prices. This could give you valuable insight into housing trends in specific neighborhoods and help you when the time comes to make an offer.

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Step 2: Decide on Your Budget

Notice I said to decide on your budget—not determine how much the mortgage company will give you. In many cases, a mortgage company will pre-approve you for more than you’re comfortable spending, which is why you need to determine the monthly payment you feel comfortable with before talking to a lender. This likely includes doing a full household budget and taking into consideration what changes other than a mortgage payment will occur once you move into your new home. If you’ve lived in an apartment or with roommates, you may overlook new expenses like garbage, water, or HOA fees that could easily blow your budget.

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Step 3: Get Prequalified

Just because you think you can afford a certain payment every month doesn’t mean the mortgage company will agree. Just as they may approve you for too large of an amount, they may also approve you for a lesser amount or deny you a mortgage altogether. Lack of time at a job, insufficient credit, past bankruptcies, or other financial issues can cause major problems when trying to secure a mortgage. Before you get your heart set on a home, talk to a mortgage professional to find out what amount you can qualify for. This will also be an advantage when you make an offer on a home, as some sellers won’t entertain offers from those who aren’t already prequalified for a loan.

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Step 4: Choose a Real Estate Agent

Can you shop for, look at, and ultimately make an offer on a home without a real estate agent? Technically yes, but why would you when it costs you nothing for an agent like me to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will I help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but I also have a knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where my expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let me show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

My goal is to provide you with the most personalized service that is designed to help you buy your dream home

Schedule a Consultation
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Step 5: Find the Right Home

This should be the most enjoyable step of the entire process (other than moving in!). I will arrange showings of homes you’re interested in that are within your price range. Take notes about what you like and don’t like, and make sure to pay attention to details. Turn light switches on and off, open and close doors, and run the faucets in various rooms. Don’t limit your inspection to the home itself. Make sure to take time to explore the neighborhood and keep an eye on traffic at certain times of the day, the parking situation, and how close it is to necessities like schools and grocery stores.

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Step 6: Make an Offer

Once you have selected the perfect home, work with your agent to craft a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes on the market. Depending on what the home is listed at and whether the current environment is a buyer’s or seller’s market, your offer may be below, at, or even above the asking price. I will be able to help you negotiate if you receive a counteroffer and reach an agreement. At this point, the house will go into escrow.

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Step 7: Have the Home Inspected

In most cases, your offer will be contingent on having the home inspected to ensure there is no major structural damage or large repairs needed. I can help you arrange this, and you can schedule it within days of making an offer. If there are no major issues, the process goes to step eight. If there is, you can renegotiate your offer based on what needs to be fixed, or you can withdraw it.

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Step 8: Select Your Loan

Now is the time to go back to the mortgage lender who pre-approved or pre-qualified you and choose your mortgage. You will be presented with various options based on your unique financial situation, including fixed-rate, variable-rate, 15-year, 30-year, or special programs such as VA loans or FHA loans. Work with your mortgage lender to select the option you feel the most comfortable with.

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Step 9: Get a Home Appraisal

Your lender will have your new home appraised so they have their independent value of it. The appraisal is to ensure that all parties involved are paying a fair price for the house.

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Step 10: Finish Paperwork

No one looks forward to all the paperwork involved in buying a home, but it’s a necessary part of the process. Fortunately, everything will be arranged by your lender and title company and, when you’re finished, you’ll know you are the legal owner of your new home.

Congratulations!

After signing the final paperwork to complete the purchase, you are now the owner of a new house. It may take a few days for your loan to be funded once the paperwork has been returned to the lender, but once that check is delivered to the seller, you’ll be all set to move into the home of your dreams.

Leah P.
Jerry B.
Buyer & Seller
Justine C.
Seller
Buyer & Seller
Seller
Lauren P.
Jenny T.
Jessica H.
WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

We love Dara! She is the most honest and down-to-earth realtor. She is very knowledgeable about the market and all things that go into purchasing a home. Dara was wonderful through the entire process and made everything so easy.

— Leah P.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Dara was very efficient, helpful, knowledge of real estate transactions She had excellent negotiable skills. I would recommend Dara to anyone and everyone!

— Jerry B.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

We've bought and sold 4 homes over the last 19 years and our experience with Dara has been the best we've had. She stays on top of all details and is a nice combination of gentle/kind and assertive when needed. Highly recommend.

— Buyer & Seller

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

She has been on the ball and has been able to navigate some scheduling challenges but pulled through and got a new tenant in during a challenging time. I highly recommend her for finding properties as a future renter, finding tenants as a rental owner, and even helping with custom home builds.

— Justine C.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Dara is professional, knowledgeable, and fun to work with. She answered our questions, returned our texts and phone calls promptly, helped us find contractors when we needed them, and got the job done! We bought a home that Dara was the realtor with. We enjoyed working with her so much, we listed a home with her that sold very quickly. We highly recommend meeting with Dara and allowing her to serve you.

— Seller

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

We so enjoyed working with Dara. She is a very knowledgeable realtor, easy to work with, extremely prompt in answering calls and texts, and worked very hard for us. She sold 2 of our properties and helped us in our search for another. We highly recommend Mrs Nugent.

— Buyer & Seller

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Ms. Dara Nugent was my sales agent in the real estate sale process. She is a true professional. Her knowledge of the current market, ability to perform front-end analysis to forecast future sale trends, coupled with her experience of high-end property sales makes her a professional you want to handle your real estate transactions from beginning to end.

— Seller

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Dara is an incredible realtor. Knowledgeable in her field, incredibly kind, and easy to work with. Would recommend her! She helped us purchase this home and is helping us list it now. She goes above and beyond for her clients at closing and even gave us a sweet gift!

— Lauren P.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Dare is (hands down) the best realtor you could choose. Her understanding of the market combined with her desire to serve her clients to the best of her ability exceeds the norm by a long shot!

— Jenny T.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Dara was amazing to work with! She was so patient with us and she always answered any question we could come up with. My husband and I were opposites and wanted the most for our money so we were really difficult to sell to. There was a house that we looked at that we almost made an offer on. We liked nearly everything about it. We had a question about the undeveloped land behind the house, so Dara dug, m...

— Jessica H.

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ABOUT DARA

MORTGAGE CALCULATOR

WORK WITH DARA

I have extensive experience in meeting housing needs for first time home buyers, growing families, students, investment buyers, retirees, as well as navigating the intricacies of farm and ranch transactions. With a focus on providing a personalized and exclusive experience and 50 Million in closed transactions, I bring a wealth of expertise to every client interaction.

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Contact Details

DARA NUGENT

[email protected]
(979) 777-0880

833 ENFIELD ST BRYAN, TX 77802