Armando Aguilar

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 our team will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

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.

Step 2: Decide on Your Budget

Notice we 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.

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.

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 agents like us to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will we help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but we also have knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where our expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let us show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

Passion & Expertise

Our goal is to provide you with the most personalized service possible, meticulously designed to help you navigate the process of buying your dream home. We are dedicated to understanding your unique needs and preferences, ensuring that every step of the journey is tailored to achieve your ultimate home-buying aspirations.

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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!). We 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.

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. We 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.

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. We 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.

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.

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.

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.

Our Testimonials

See why our clients love working with us.

Miguel G.

I had the pleasure of working with Armando Aguilar and want to share my satisfaction and gratitude for the services he provided toward purchasing our first home. Armando's professionalism and dedication made buying a home smoot...

Lili R.

Great realtor! From beginning to end Armando was amazing to work with. He was very knowledgeable and kept us up to date on all that was happening. Buying a home can be stressful and Armando made sure that everything went smooth...

Klaudia C.

I can’t say how grateful my family and I are for Armando and his willingness to help us! We tried to qualify to buy and didn’t. Instead of turning us away, he helped us find a lease to live that was big enough and within our bu...

Long L.

Armando is amazing at what he does! He's a great realtor who's very easy to get along with, responsive, organized, and super helpful. He's available whenever you need him. He helped me and my wife find/buy homes to rent out and...

Veronica V.

Armando and his team are absolutely the best, as both Armando and his partner worked side-by-side with us! making us feel rest-assured and confident throughout the process. This was very important for us knowing that we could r...

Sandra F.

Armando is the best real state agent! Having Armando as our agent was a true blessing. Not only is he great at what he does, but his patience and dedication exceed anyone's expectations. Thanks to Armando we found a house that ...

Delia F.

I would 100% recommend Armando and his associates to handle your real estate needs! He is punctual, easy to communicate with, and prompt to respond, he’s honest and upfront, flexible, his client satisfaction is his number 1 pri...

Julio E.

Always prompted and always on task. If we liked a property and wished to see it Armando went quick and made an offer so we wouldn’t miss our chance. He also helped us by recommending a lender to help us get approved. It was gre...

Andrew and Saray

Armando is a stellar agent. My husband and I just bought our first home (duplex) and Armando walked us through every step in the home-buying process. He told us if we had any question/s to give him a call regardless of how sill...

Carlos R.

Armando was amazing, to say the least. From the initial contact, I knew I was in good hands with my Refi. The entire process went smoothly with no hiccups. It was obvious that customer service was paramount to him as an agent. ...

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Contact Details

Armando Aguilar | CA DRE# 01980474

Phone

(562) 833-0993

[email protected]

Address

12501 Seal Beach Blvd Ste 100 Seal Beach, CA 90740

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