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A Step-by-Step Guide to Buying a Home

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.

Tony M.
Seller
Buyer
Buyer
Tom & Ellen
Buyer & Seller
Seller
Buyer & Seller
Seller
Buyer
WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Cathy Bossolina is truly a real estate professional. She helped guide us through the entire sales process seamlessly. I highly recommend Cathy to anyone looking to buy or sell a home!

— Tony M.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Cathy was a pleasure to work with! She guided me through every step of the process from staging through closing. She was consistently professional, knowledgeable, and mindful of my needs. Cathy made the entire process manageable and less stressful. I highly recommend working with her!

— Seller

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Cathy is the best of the best, she has impeccable taste and an innate sense of quality in building construction and design. She knew exactly what we were looking for in a home and found us the perfect one. She’s always three steps ahead of everyone! We’re so lucky we got to work with her!

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Cathy was very helpful in guiding us through a turbulent market caused by the pandemic. Through her expertise, we were able to find and purchase a home in our target town that we loved in our price range. Cathy was available day or night to answer our questions and guide us through the process. Her relationships with other brokers also provided invaluable insight into the market. We are grateful for the ...

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

There aren’t enough words to describe how great our experience with Cathy was. She was professional, yet warm and friendly. She listened well and understood all our needs. She communicated thoroughly about what to expect and how to handle this crazy market. Even after the close, she is still there for us providing us with recommendations and checking in to make sure we are settling in. I would never use ...

— Tom & Ellen

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

It is my pleasure to write a recommendation for Cathy Bossolina. I would highly recommend her to any individual or family searching for the ideal home for their situation. Cathy was extremely attentive and responsive. She was extremely easy to communicate and we always felt like we were her most important client. We hired her to sell our home in 2013 and then again in 2016 when we moved back to Ridgewood...

— Buyer & Seller

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

We could not have been more pleased with our real estate professional Cathy Bossolina. We gave her the difficult task of selling our townhome in a neighborhood of townhomes still under construction. She advised us on what we needed to do to make our home stand out, and more importantly, pointed out these features to potential buyers who she attracted with her hard work and commitment. Her knowledge of th...

— Seller

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

She represented us earlier this year as buyers. It took us almost 2 years to find the right house, but we finally did. I’ve bought and sold real estate about 3 or 4 times and have never met anyone so “on point” as Cathy. Communication, patience, professionalism, generosity, resourcefulness, knowledge, experience, style, people skills, integrity, all in one package. It’s like she was made for her job, so ...

— Buyer & Seller

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

When we chose Cathy to sell our home we made one of the best decisions we could have made. Cathy is in a class by herself, way above other realtors. She is not only intelligent, perceptive, and a skilled negotiator who goes above and beyond, but she also cares. Cathy guided us in preparing our home for showing, supplementing our decor with things from her own home. Her home stagers and videographer were ...

— Seller

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

I highly recommend Cathy!! Cathy was referred to me by a friend when I was starting the house-hunting process. I would say I was not the easiest person for a real estate agent to work with because I am a very particular person who asks a lot of questions and loves to negotiate, however, Cathy was always extremely professional, friendly, and super responsive throughout the whole process. She was very know...

— Buyer

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Work With Cathy

Cathy’s personalized service concentrates on limited clients with white-glove service. She is committed to representing her clients personally. Through a decade of service to individual clients and their families, she has developed a deep connection to the community and leverages those relationships to help put the client’s needs first, while protecting their privacy.

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Contact Details

CATHY BOSSOLINA

201.410.0642

[email protected]



55 N MAPLE AVE
RIDGEWOOD NJ 07450