Want To Be In Your New Home By December?

Your first step is to find a Realtor that you feel confident in. Choose a full-time Realtor with extended designations (ABR, GRI, Short Sale & Foreclosure Certified, ePro, Relocation Specialist . . .). This way you will have confidence that the Realtor you choose is professional and that they respect their profession enough to be full time and to stay up and educated on the market place.

Through your meeting and discussions with your Realtor, he/she will be able to establish a home search for you on the multi-list system (MLS) and have the homes emailed to you. This is something that you should do right away because it will help you get familiar with the market, what homes cost in one area or neighborhood versus another. The homes will be emailed to you immediately upon being listed, and they will come to you again if photos are added or a price adjustment is made.

You should then, with your Realtor's guidance, find a local lender. Please DO NOT get pre-qualified form the Internet. These pre-qualifications are not worth the paper they are written on. Getting prequalified will help direct you to the price range that you should be looking in, will save you from the heart break of falling in love with a home only to find out that you can't buy it, and, once you do find the right home for yourself, you will be able to act quickly (hopefully quicker than anyone else) to submit an offer. You must have a pre-approval letter to submit along with your offer.

There is time to get find and close on a home by December if you get started now. I recommend staying away from short sales. Foreclosures may work for you because they are already owned by the bank; therefore the decision making on their end is much quicker.