Congratulations! You’ve decided to buy your first home. Well you’re not alone. First-time home buyers make up 30 to 40% of all home sales in the U.S. As a REALTOR®, I work with a lot of first-time home buyers and have learned that first-time home buyers have questions…lots of them!

Welcome to my series of blog posts designed for first-time home buyers! Buying your first home is an exciting time in your life. But the excitement can be overshadowed by the seemingly never-ending series of decisions you’ll be required to make throughout the process. This blog series is intended to be an easy-to-use reference manual that walks you through the process of buying your first home, step by step.

Happy house hunting!

Assumptions

This series assumes that you’re a first-time home buyer with little to no knowledge of real estate law. It also assumes that you are shopping for residential property that you intend to live in as an owner-occupant, and that you are shopping for homes under about $500,000 (I do not get into jumbo loans or other creative financing methods for high-end real estate).

Unless otherwise noted, the legal references and state laws mentioned in this book pertain to the state of Florida. They may or may not apply directly to your state if you live elsewhere.

Most statistics referenced are from the National Association of Realtors.

Ready to start shopping? Don’t miss the next post in this series where I talk about the different types of real estate agents.

Rob Reed is a REALTOR in St Petersburg, FL that specializes in working with first time home buyers.

Fill out the form below to contact Rob and get your free copy of his “Top 10 Tips for First Time Home Buyers”: