Leave a Message

Thank you for your message. We will be in touch with you shortly.

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.

main

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.

main

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.

main

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.

main

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 a 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.

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

Schedule a Consultation
main

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.

main

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.

main

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.

main

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.

main

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.

main

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.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Michael is super responsive and pleasant to work with. He immediately jumped on any issues that came up and ensured we made it to closing smoothly.

— Margaret W.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Hello Sally, I've recently gotten my house sold by Michael Brassem and I asked Michael your contact information because I would really like to recognize his outstanding work in selling our house. We've done this process before with relocation companies, which is always painful, but this time was a different positive experience. Michael went above and beyond our expectations in helping us not only in the ...

— V. P.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Michael did an excellent job in selling our house! Besides his market knowledge, he went beyond and above our expectations in helping us out with many other things outside his scope of just selling the house! He really cares about his clients! He is also very responsive and professional. We are glad we picked him to help us in this process, which ended up being very successful with zero issues! Get an of...

— M. P.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Michael went above and beyond to help my wife and I find our perfect, first home. He was very patient with us while we learned the home-buying process and was always quick with a response when we had a question or concern. We greatly appreciated his negotiation skills in the final stages of our offer and felt he had our best interests in mind throughout our whole home-buying journey. Michael was extremel...

— R. W.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

My husband and I worked with Michael in the summer of 2020. It was our very first home-buying experience, and we had no idea what to expect. We were under a lot of stress and unknown factors - COVID-19, buying our first home in an incredibly competitive market and expecting our first child. I was worried the process would be intense and complicated, but Michael made everything so easy and fun.

— M. F.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

I am a first-time home buyer and new to Colorado. Even though I was out of town, Michael made the entire process from offer to closing a breeze. He was more than an agent; he was my advocate. He is very organized, supportive, and communicative. He made something that can be such an anxiety-producing event (especially during these hectic times), enjoyable and exciting. I felt like I was in great hands. Mi...

— J. B.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Michael is so professional. He kept us on schedule. He kept the communication clear and constant. He also helped connect us with the perfect lender, that made sure to customize the loan for us, and our lending needs. Our home sold in 3 days! And everything was easy breezy! Thank you, Michael.

— N. H.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Michael was an absolute professional from start to finish. He was responsive and knowledgeable. But beyond that, he was kind and courteous. It took a while for us to list our house and we had a lot of questions. He was patient and never pushy and went beyond what we have experienced in the past with other realtors. We highly recommend Michael.

— L. L.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

As a first-time homebuyer during a pandemic, Michael helped us tremendously throughout the process. He did a fantastic job of explaining every question we had along the way, helping us make an informed decision about our home purchase. Michael was always well-prepared. He helped by providing us with detailed information on each home, as well as a comparison sheet to help distinguish between houses. He wa...

— M. R.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Michael is an exceptional real estate specialist. Always available to answer questions and solve problems. The most professional associate I have ever had the pleasure to work with.

— K. C.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Jennifer was a pleasure to work with for the sale of our home. She had great suggestions to get our home ready for listing. We had good communication throughout the entire process from talking about listing through closing and moving out. and she helped us at every step. Our home sold quickly and with multiple offers thanks to Jen's support! She knows the area very well and that is very helpful to both b...

— David G.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

We have worked with Jennifer many times and she is honestly the best. She will listen to you and go out of her way to help in any way. She is very smart and does her research as a realtor. She will negotiate hard for you and you always feel supported and in good hands when she is selling or helping you to buy a home. We 100% trust her and would never be afraid to recommend her because we know she will al...

— Olivia W.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Jennifer sold our prior home in less than two weeks. She facilitated the selection and purchase of our new home. She was extremely helpful and knowledgeable in negotiating a satisfactory purchase price. We also used Jennifer to sell a previous home a year before. Again, it was done quickly and efficiently. Jennifer is one real estate broker I would highly recommend. All of my dealings with her were top-n...

— Joe W.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Jennifer was great in helping me find my first home. She is incredibly knowledgeable about the different areas of Denver and went above and beyond to research homes that would be a good fit for me. She even spent an entire day driving me around each Denver area so we could narrow down our search parameters. Jennifer is incredibly patient and, most importantly, gave her honest opinion about each property ...

— Hannah C.

View All

Home Search

Home Valuation

Seller's Guide

Work With Us

Our attention goes a long way to help our clients and their family see a successful future.

Contact Us
GET IN TOUCH
CONTACT DETAILS

4S RESIDENTIAL GROUP


MICHAEL BRASSEM

(303) 494-0990

[email protected]

 

JENNIFER KISS

(303) 828-7472

[email protected]



12110 N Pecos St Ste 100

Westminster CO 80234