Beginning your home search can feel like an overwhelming and nerve-wracking task.

At Mary Ellen Vannaken Team, we like to make it very easy for our potential buyers to understand the steps that we take with you in order to find your dream home!

We broke it down into these 8 steps:

Let’s get to know each other! We’ll sit down and talk through the process of buying a home with us. Come prepared with your dream home's "must have" list.

Getting pre-qualified is the beginning of the mortgage process. You supply a bank or lender with a financial summary that includes debt, income, and assets. From there you will get an approximation of the mortgage you will qualify for. Getting pre-approved is the next step in the process. Once you get pre-approved the lender will tell you the specific mortgage amount you are approved for. 

You’ll get notifications about the listings that we know you'll be excited about. Be sure to let us know if one (or more) jumps out at you so that we can move to the next step and schedule a viewing.

This is when the buying process gets really fun! We’ll go to open houses and schedule viewings from the listing alerts you loved. We’ll talk how the budget works and make sure that we find you the perfect home.

A little scary, but very exciting! One of three things will happen when putting in an offer on a house: the offer is accepted, it’s rejected, or you get a counteroffer. We’ll walk you through each of those possibilities and how to handle them. Once the offer is accepted and your finances are in order, we'll move forward to the next step!

The sellers accepted your offer, and your future home is going through appraisal and inspection. This is one of the last steps before you get the keys to your home! The appraisal guarantees that the price of the home matches the condition of the home and the inspection makes sure that everything in the home is functioning properly and there are no major issues inside.

It’s time to dot the I’s and cross the T’s because you’re closing on your home! This step in the process includes going through all of the final paperwork and signing your name. Remember to bring all of the paperwork you’ve collected along the way, and your down payment.

Grab a bottle of champagne and toast to your new home! Congratulations, you’re a homeowner!