Priced Out of the Market? How to Buy Your First House

1. Create a Needs List

When markets are competitive, it's essential to be as flexible as possible. Creating a needs list is a great way to identify what features you must have in a home compared to what items you could live without.

Being proactive and only looking at properties that, at minimum, align with your core needs will help narrow your search and efforts to a few select properties that you can go all-in on. At the very least, it will help you understand what features you might be willing to compromise on.

Keep in mind that once you purchase a home, you can continually reinvest or do a cash-out refinance later to afford key home improvements. If you can live with an outdated kitchen for a few years before affording an upgrade, don’t rule out the home.

2. Fast Track Your Financing

Unless you are sitting on a stockpile of cash, a mortgage is how you will buy your first house. In fact, 87% of all buyers finance their home purchases. Play it smart and get pre-approved with our Cake Cash Pre Approval to make the purchase process smoother.

First, having your new home buyer’s loan lined up before you start making offers on potential homes significantly helps. Most importantly, it demonstrates to a seller that you are a motivated buyer. This can give you an edge over competitors looking to score the same home.

Second, having a pre-approval letter broadens the number of properties you can tour. As COVID-19 continues to impact public health concerns, many sellers may require a pre-approval letter before letting any potential buyer tour their home. Did you know you can get pre-approved with Cake in under 15 minutes?

Lastly, getting an early start on the mortgage application process will help expedite the process once your offer is accepted, allowing you to close even faster than those buyers who have to start from scratch.

3. Reduce Your Contingencies

When competing against multiple offers, many of whom are all-cash buyers, it can be challenging for your offer to stand out to a seller. Reducing your number of contingencies is one surefire way to improve your chances of having a seller accept your offer.

For example, if you have experience working in construction or trade industries, you might waive a home inspection based upon your review of the property. Some sellers will even have a pre-listing inspection completed, which may ease your mind and make you more comfortable with the property’s condition.

Lastly, when learning how to buy your first home, consider being generous and not asking the seller to complete any repair work to the property, especially if it's mostly cosmetic. Elect to do these repairs yourself post-close or ask for a minor seller's credit to help offset future repair costs. This will help expedite the transaction and get you and the seller to the closing table faster.

Get Pre-Approved for a New Home Buyer’s Loan With Cake

When looking at how to buy your first home with Cake, we will help you prepare your finances and get a strong pre-approval for this competitive housing market. Enjoy your house viewing by making sure you are flexible and don't get stuck on certain home features. If you want to jump ahead of the pack, call Cake for a pre-approval letter, making your offer as good as cash.