Buying your first home feels impossible until you actually start doing it. Then it feels really hard, but at least it's concrete. There's a pre-approval to chase. A down payment to figure out. A house to find, an offer to write, an inspection to survive, and a closing day where you sign your name 47 times and suddenly own a roof.
The whole thing takes most first-time buyers somewhere between three and six months. Some people do it in six weeks. Others drag it out for a year while they wait for the right home. Both are fine. What matters is knowing what's coming so you're not blindsided.
This is the full home buying checklist, the steps to buying a house for the first-time, and the honest home buying tips nobody tells you until you're already knee-deep in the process. Every step, in order, with the things no one tells you mixed in.
Step 1: Check your credit score
Do this before you talk to a lender. Before you scroll Zillow. Before anything.
Pull your score for free at annualcreditreport.com. If you're at 740 or above, you're in great shape. 680 to 739 is solid. Below 680 and you're going to pay a higher mortgage rate, which on a $350,000 loan can mean $200 more per month for the next 30 years. That's real money.
If your score needs work, you've got two simple moves: pay down credit card balances below 30 percent of your limit, and don't open any new credit. That's it. Six months of this can bump you 40 to 60 points.
Step 2: Save for a down payment (but not as much as you think)
The old advice was 20 percent down. That's outdated. Most first-time buyers put down 3 to 10 percent.
Here's what the numbers actually look like:
FHA loans: 3.5 percent down minimum
Conventional loans for first-time buyers: 3 percent down
VA loans (military): 0 percent down
USDA loans (rural): 0 percent down
On a $300,000 home, 3.5 percent is $10,500. That's doable for a lot of people. The tradeoff is that if you put down less than 20 percent, you'll pay mortgage insurance, which adds $100 to $250 per month depending on the loan type.
Don't forget you also need closing costs, usually 2 to 5 percent of the loan amount. So plan on saving the down payment plus another $6,000 to $15,000 on top of that.
Step 3: Get pre-approved
A pre-approval is a lender reviewing your income, debt, and credit to tell you how much they'll actually lend you. It's different from pre-qualification, which is basically nothing. Pre-approval is the real thing. Sellers won't look at your offer without it.
Shop at least three lenders. Rates vary more than people realize. Pull quotes from:
A big online lender like Rocket or Better
A local credit union
Your bank or a local mortgage broker
The difference between the best rate and the worst can be half a point or more. On a $350,000 loan, half a point of rate saves you roughly $100 per month. Over 30 years, that's $36,000.
Get the pre-approval letter in writing. It's usually good for 60 to 90 days.
Step 4: Figure out what you can actually afford
The bank will pre-approve you for a number that's almost certainly more than you should spend. Don't take the max.
A good rule: your total housing cost (mortgage, property tax, insurance, HOA) should stay under 28 percent of your pre-tax monthly income. Some people push that higher in expensive markets, but 28 percent gives you room to live your life.
Pull up a mortgage calculator and run the full picture. Include property taxes (especially important in places like Texas and New Jersey where they're high) and homeowners insurance (especially important in Florida where it's gotten expensive). A lot of first-time buyers look at the loan payment and forget the other two.
Step 5: Decide how you're going to work with an agent (or not)
After the NAR settlement in 2024, this is more important than ever. You now have to sign a buyer broker agreement before any agent shows you a home, and that agreement has to say exactly what you'll pay.
You've really got three realistic paths:
Traditional agent at 2.5 to 3 percent. Full service. It costs a lot.
Modern alternatives like Homa. You get a licensed, full-service agent with MLS access, offer writing, and closing support, and a big chunk of the buyer-side commission gets rebated back to you. You can take that credit as cash at closing or apply it toward a mortgage rate buydown to lower your monthly payment.
Going solo with no agent at all. Don't do it. If you show up without a buyer's agent, the listing agent typically keeps both sides of the commission, you give up any leverage in negotiation, and you take on every legal and contractual risk yourself. The savings you think you're getting usually end up in the seller's agent's pocket.
For most first-time buyers, option 2 is the sweet spot. You get real representation, and you keep most of the buyer-side commission.
Buying your first home feels impossible until you actually start doing it. Then it feels really hard, but at least it's concrete. There's a pre-approval to chase. A down payment to figure out. A house to find, an offer to write, an inspection to survive, and a closing day where you sign your name 47 times and suddenly own a roof.
The whole thing takes most first-time buyers somewhere between three and six months. Some people do it in six weeks. Others drag it out for a year while they wait for the right home. Both are fine. What matters is knowing what's coming so you're not blindsided.
This is the full home buying checklist, the steps to buying a house for the first-time, and the honest home buying tips nobody tells you until you're already knee-deep in the process. Every step, in order, with the things no one tells you mixed in.
Step 1: Check your credit score
Do this before you talk to a lender. Before you scroll Zillow. Before anything.
Pull your score for free at annualcreditreport.com. If you're at 740 or above, you're in great shape. 680 to 739 is solid. Below 680 and you're going to pay a higher mortgage rate, which on a $350,000 loan can mean $200 more per month for the next 30 years. That's real money.
If your score needs work, you've got two simple moves: pay down credit card balances below 30 percent of your limit, and don't open any new credit. That's it. Six months of this can bump you 40 to 60 points.
Step 2: Save for a down payment (but not as much as you think)
The old advice was 20 percent down. That's outdated. Most first-time buyers put down 3 to 10 percent.
Here's what the numbers actually look like:
FHA loans: 3.5 percent down minimum
Conventional loans for first-time buyers: 3 percent down
VA loans (military): 0 percent down
USDA loans (rural): 0 percent down
On a $300,000 home, 3.5 percent is $10,500. That's doable for a lot of people. The tradeoff is that if you put down less than 20 percent, you'll pay mortgage insurance, which adds $100 to $250 per month depending on the loan type.
Don't forget you also need closing costs, usually 2 to 5 percent of the loan amount. So plan on saving the down payment plus another $6,000 to $15,000 on top of that.
Step 3: Get pre-approved
A pre-approval is a lender reviewing your income, debt, and credit to tell you how much they'll actually lend you. It's different from pre-qualification, which is basically nothing. Pre-approval is the real thing. Sellers won't look at your offer without it.
Shop at least three lenders. Rates vary more than people realize. Pull quotes from:
A big online lender like Rocket or Better
A local credit union
Your bank or a local mortgage broker
The difference between the best rate and the worst can be half a point or more. On a $350,000 loan, half a point of rate saves you roughly $100 per month. Over 30 years, that's $36,000.
Get the pre-approval letter in writing. It's usually good for 60 to 90 days.
Step 4: Figure out what you can actually afford
The bank will pre-approve you for a number that's almost certainly more than you should spend. Don't take the max.
A good rule: your total housing cost (mortgage, property tax, insurance, HOA) should stay under 28 percent of your pre-tax monthly income. Some people push that higher in expensive markets, but 28 percent gives you room to live your life.
Pull up a mortgage calculator and run the full picture. Include property taxes (especially important in places like Texas and New Jersey where they're high) and homeowners insurance (especially important in Florida where it's gotten expensive). A lot of first-time buyers look at the loan payment and forget the other two.
Step 5: Decide how you're going to work with an agent (or not)
After the NAR settlement in 2024, this is more important than ever. You now have to sign a buyer broker agreement before any agent shows you a home, and that agreement has to say exactly what you'll pay.
You've really got three realistic paths:
Traditional agent at 2.5 to 3 percent. Full service. It costs a lot.
Modern alternatives like Homa. You get a licensed, full-service agent with MLS access, offer writing, and closing support, and a big chunk of the buyer-side commission gets rebated back to you. You can take that credit as cash at closing or apply it toward a mortgage rate buydown to lower your monthly payment.
Going solo with no agent at all. Don't do it. If you show up without a buyer's agent, the listing agent typically keeps both sides of the commission, you give up any leverage in negotiation, and you take on every legal and contractual risk yourself. The savings you think you're getting usually end up in the seller's agent's pocket.
For most first-time buyers, option 2 is the sweet spot. You get real representation, and you keep most of the buyer-side commission.
Step 6: Make your must-have list
Two columns. Must-have and nice-to-have.
Must-haves might be:
Three bedrooms
A specific school district
Under $425,000
No more than 30 minutes from work
Nice-to-haves:
A pool
Updated kitchen
Finished garage
Hardwood floors
Be honest with yourself. If you have kids and you need the school district, that's a must-have. If you want a pool but you'd buy a house without one, that's a nice-to-have. Keeping these separate stops you from talking yourself into a house that doesn't work.
Step 7: Start looking
Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com all pull from the MLS. Set up alerts for your criteria. When you see something promising, schedule a tour fast. Good homes in good school districts move in days, sometimes hours.
Tour at least five houses before making an offer. You'll learn what you actually like versus what you thought you'd like. A lot of first-time buyers walk into their third or fourth showing and realize they don't care about an open floor plan at all, or that they definitely need a bigger yard.
Step 8: Make an offer
Your offer is a price, but it's also a contract. It includes:
The price you're offering
How much earnest money you're putting up (usually 1 to 3 percent of the price, held in escrow)
Contingencies (inspection, financing, appraisal)
Proposed closing date
Any concessions you're asking from the seller
In a hot market, you might go above asking. In a soft market, you can offer below. Your agent or rebate brokerage will pull comps (recent sales of similar homes) so you know what's fair.
Don't skip contingencies. The inspection contingency in particular is a big deal. It lets you back out if the inspection turns up problems you didn't know about. People who waive inspections in bidding wars sometimes end up with $30,000 foundation surprises.
Step 9: Get the home inspected
Once your offer is accepted, you have a short window (usually 7 to 14 days) to get a professional inspection.
A general home inspector runs $400 to $700 and will check the roof, foundation, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and a bunch of other stuff. You'll get a report 10 to 30 pages long. Read it carefully.
Some problems are normal. A 20-year-old water heater is going to need replacing eventually. That's not a dealbreaker. Active roof leaks, electrical issues, or major foundation problems? Those are different. You can ask the seller to fix them, credit you money at closing, or you can walk away.
Buy Smarter with Homa
Take control and save thousands on your path to homeownership
Buy Smarter with Homa
Take control and save thousands on your path to homeownership
Buy Smarter with Homa
Take control and save thousands on your path to homeownership
Step 10: Get the home appraised
Your lender orders an appraisal to confirm the home is worth what you're paying. You pay for it, usually $500 to $700. If the appraisal comes in below the purchase price, you either have to come up with the difference in cash, renegotiate with the seller, or walk away.
In 2025 and into 2026, appraisals have been coming in closer to asking in most markets, but in hot neighborhoods, it still happens. Be ready for it.
Step 11: Secure your mortgage
Between the offer being accepted and closing, your lender is doing underwriting. They'll ask for pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements, and every other document you've ever touched. Respond fast. Delays here delay closing.
Here’s a tip most buyers miss: if you’re working with Homa, the commission rebate you earn at closing can be applied directly toward your mortgage. That means instead of taking the credit as cash, you can use it to buy down your interest rate (points) or lower your monthly payment for the life of the loan. On a $400,000 mortgage, even a small rate reduction can save you tens of thousands over 30 years. Ask your lender about pairing a Homa rebate with a rate buydown before you lock.
During this window, don't:
Open new credit cards
Make big purchases on credit
Change jobs
Move money around in a suspicious way
Any of those can blow up your loan a week before closing. It happens.
Step 12: Do a final walkthrough
The day before or the morning of closing, walk through the house one more time. Make sure:
The seller actually moved out
Repairs they agreed to are done
Nothing has been damaged since your inspection
The appliances they said they'd leave are still there
It sounds obvious, but people skip this and regret it.
Step 13: Close
Closing is a meeting (or these days often a set of electronic signatures) where you sign a stack of documents, wire your down payment and closing costs, and receive the keys.
You'll see documents like:
The note (your promise to repay the loan)
The deed of trust or mortgage
The settlement statement (all the numbers)
A bunch of disclosures
Read the settlement statement carefully before signing. Make sure the numbers match what you were told.
After signing, the transaction is usually recorded with the county within a day or two. Once it's recorded, the home is yours.
Timeline: how long does all this take?
If everything goes smoothly:
Pre-approval to house hunting: 1 to 2 weeks
House hunting to accepted offer: 4 to 12 weeks (highly variable)
Accepted offer to closing: 30 to 45 days
Plan on about 3 months from start to finish, but give yourself 6 months of runway mentally.
What to budget for, beyond the down payment
First-time buyers get sticker-shocked by everything that shows up after the down payment. Plan for:
Closing costs: 2 to 5 percent of loan amount
Home inspection: $400 to $700
Appraisal: $500 to $700
Moving costs: $500 to $2,500
Immediate repairs or upgrades: $1,000 to $5,000
Furniture for the rooms you didn't have in your old place: whatever you're willing to spend
Have a cash cushion after closing. Things break. Water heaters die. You don't want to be tapped out the week you move in.
Your one-page home buying checklist for first-time buyers:
Pull credit score (target 680+, ideally 740+)
Save down payment (3 to 10 percent) plus closing costs (2 to 5 percent)
Get pre-approved from 3 lenders
Set a real budget (28 percent rule)
Choose how you'll work with an agent (full-service brokerage with a commission rebate is the sweet spot)
Make your must-have list
Tour 5+ homes
Write an offer with contingencies
Get a home inspection
Order appraisal through lender
Submit all underwriting documents quickly
Do a final walkthrough
Close and get keys
How Homa makes the first steps to buying a house easier
The first-time buyer process has a lot of moving pieces, and paying 3 percent commission on top of everything else is a punch you don't need. Homa gives you a licensed, full-service agent to guide you through every step above, and a big chunk of the buyer-side commission gets rebated back to you at closing. One of the best home buying tips we can give you: that rebate is yours to use. Apply it toward a mortgage rate buydown to lower your monthly payment, cover closing costs, or put it toward furniture and a renovation fund.
It's your first home. Keep the $10,000 or $15,000 you would've given to a commission and put it toward something that actually makes the house yours.
Step 10: Get the home appraised
Your lender orders an appraisal to confirm the home is worth what you're paying. You pay for it, usually $500 to $700. If the appraisal comes in below the purchase price, you either have to come up with the difference in cash, renegotiate with the seller, or walk away.
In 2025 and into 2026, appraisals have been coming in closer to asking in most markets, but in hot neighborhoods, it still happens. Be ready for it.
Step 11: Secure your mortgage
Between the offer being accepted and closing, your lender is doing underwriting. They'll ask for pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements, and every other document you've ever touched. Respond fast. Delays here delay closing.
Here’s a tip most buyers miss: if you’re working with Homa, the commission rebate you earn at closing can be applied directly toward your mortgage. That means instead of taking the credit as cash, you can use it to buy down your interest rate (points) or lower your monthly payment for the life of the loan. On a $400,000 mortgage, even a small rate reduction can save you tens of thousands over 30 years. Ask your lender about pairing a Homa rebate with a rate buydown before you lock.
During this window, don't:
Open new credit cards
Make big purchases on credit
Change jobs
Move money around in a suspicious way
Any of those can blow up your loan a week before closing. It happens.
Step 12: Do a final walkthrough
The day before or the morning of closing, walk through the house one more time. Make sure:
The seller actually moved out
Repairs they agreed to are done
Nothing has been damaged since your inspection
The appliances they said they'd leave are still there
It sounds obvious, but people skip this and regret it.
Step 13: Close
Closing is a meeting (or these days often a set of electronic signatures) where you sign a stack of documents, wire your down payment and closing costs, and receive the keys.
You'll see documents like:
The note (your promise to repay the loan)
The deed of trust or mortgage
The settlement statement (all the numbers)
A bunch of disclosures
Read the settlement statement carefully before signing. Make sure the numbers match what you were told.
After signing, the transaction is usually recorded with the county within a day or two. Once it's recorded, the home is yours.
Timeline: how long does all this take?
If everything goes smoothly:
Pre-approval to house hunting: 1 to 2 weeks
House hunting to accepted offer: 4 to 12 weeks (highly variable)
Accepted offer to closing: 30 to 45 days
Plan on about 3 months from start to finish, but give yourself 6 months of runway mentally.
What to budget for, beyond the down payment
First-time buyers get sticker-shocked by everything that shows up after the down payment. Plan for:
Closing costs: 2 to 5 percent of loan amount
Home inspection: $400 to $700
Appraisal: $500 to $700
Moving costs: $500 to $2,500
Immediate repairs or upgrades: $1,000 to $5,000
Furniture for the rooms you didn't have in your old place: whatever you're willing to spend
Have a cash cushion after closing. Things break. Water heaters die. You don't want to be tapped out the week you move in.
Your one-page home buying checklist for first-time buyers:
Pull credit score (target 680+, ideally 740+)
Save down payment (3 to 10 percent) plus closing costs (2 to 5 percent)
Get pre-approved from 3 lenders
Set a real budget (28 percent rule)
Choose how you'll work with an agent (full-service brokerage with a commission rebate is the sweet spot)
Make your must-have list
Tour 5+ homes
Write an offer with contingencies
Get a home inspection
Order appraisal through lender
Submit all underwriting documents quickly
Do a final walkthrough
Close and get keys
How Homa makes the first steps to buying a house easier
The first-time buyer process has a lot of moving pieces, and paying 3 percent commission on top of everything else is a punch you don't need. Homa gives you a licensed, full-service agent to guide you through every step above, and a big chunk of the buyer-side commission gets rebated back to you at closing. One of the best home buying tips we can give you: that rebate is yours to use. Apply it toward a mortgage rate buydown to lower your monthly payment, cover closing costs, or put it toward furniture and a renovation fund.
It's your first home. Keep the $10,000 or $15,000 you would've given to a commission and put it toward something that actually makes the house yours.
