Expert: Dottie Worthington - 8/25/2005

Question
My husband and I are getting ready to buy our first home. Neither of us has any exeprience with this sort of thing, so we're clueless about what we need to do and when.

We currently rent an apartment and our lease expires Feb. '06. Basically we're 6 months out. We have our down payment saved and are now just trying to build on top of that for other expenses (appliances, etc). We live in the Fort Worth, Texas area. But what do we do next?

Should we talk to the bank first and find out how much we'd be approved for, then shop around? Do we find a house first? We've been loking online, just to get an idea of what's out there, and we've stuck to the $90k-$110k range, nothing brand new but within 20-30 years old mostly.

Once we find "the house", how long (on average) does it take to actually get to the point of move-in? What if we find a great place but can't move for another 2 months because of our lease?

Any and all thoughts and advice you can give are greatly appreciated!

Answer
Brandi, you are starting off the right way. The best thing to do is call a good mortgage officer and tell them what you just told me. (Shaundra Hardt is good at Pulaski Mortgage. 817-569-1505) Then she can tell you how much home you can afford. In the mean time, be checking out areas and homes in your price range thru ads and online searches. so when you are ready to buy you will sorta know the area. I would atart looking about 45 days before moving. It then shouldn't take but about a week or two to find a home and about 30 days to close it. I can find a good agent for you in the area you choose, just let me know. Feel free to browse our website, it is very helpful!
www.worthington-realestate.com
Good luck!
Dottie Worthington