First Time Home Buyer, Again? Let’s Learn
Disclaimer: Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isn’t to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. I’m not here to act as a definitive firsthand source—readers should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). I’m not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!Topics: Buying Homes, Financing, Opportunities, Grants, Due Diligence, Home Ownership, Investing
Lately, I’ve been learning more about home-ownership, accumulating wealth, and overall norms for families in the UA. It’s surprising to learn that “first time home buyers” actually aren’t always doing it for their FIRST TIME. But that’s how wording is in the financial world, so often. So often, the wording for investments are confusing on purpose and only after researching, you learn what’s available to you. There are so many opportunities available to help people. Even my first home I co-bought with my ex, turned out we could have used a LOT of resources provided by different financial institutions. So, you know… you only know what you know, and when you don’t know - you often miss out on a lot.
Why Attend: I want to figure out a long-term plan. Or at least know my options. Because renting for your entire life is good for some people, but it can also be very destructive if other options make sense for you. Lately, I don’t know if I’ll be moving out of Seattle soon or not… but, it’s still a good idea to learn what is possible and available. So, that’s the goal. Stay educated and informed as best as reasonably possible. Plus, the more you know, the more you can help educate others, or help them better understand questions to ask and educate themselves.
Overall Event Reviews: Venue (4/5), Food (NA), Speaker Content (4/5), Networking (2.5/5), Likeliness to Return (5/5)
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Getting pre-qualified for a home loan. You can use a calculator and aim for conditional approval.
You go in and submit a full application and the deposit.
They collect the deposit at the beginning and thats for the credit report and then you provide all the documents, it’s sent to the underwriter and then they have the conditional approval, underwritten approval. Good for 4 months on any home.
It is a bit time consuming with documents, a credit pull… but when you go through the process before ramping up the search, then you know from your fully validated report + a human underwriter signed off on your employment, assets, all those things.
Most of the conditions are items they can’t work with till you find a home and get under contract.
But the 4 months you have give you peace of mind.
Of course it’s understandable that you don’t want your credit pulled… your credit may be impacted by 3-8 points. But any impact is done after the credit report is generated. So it’s not going to go lower by 8 points and that is the score they use. And if you’re about to embark on buying hte largest purchase of your life, getting vetted to be sure you qualify is super important.
The inquiry will stay on your credit report, and after 120 days if you didn’t find a home, your credit score (if no other adjustments) your score will go back to where it was. Then you can copy/paste a new application, new documents, and then good for another 140 days.
I will ask a question: is a new home buyer every 3 years? I heard this before.
Some people do one application, got the application, boom, done.
Some people have done applications 15 or 16 times. Those are people who want to buy in a certain neighborhood. Very limited… so a lot depends on you and how you want your
If you have not owned a home in three years… sold that property, if it’s been 3 years. 3 years not on a title. But if they own the house and you’re living in it, you’re still a homeowner.
There is a lot of mysticism for being a homebuyer
Washington state has downpayment programs. State by state differs.
Certain benefits
20% has to be paid if you’re a homebuyer or not.
20% of first time homebuyer programers don’t mean anything
The benefit is to help with
Homebuyer grant with income at at least at or below $145k - provide a gift of up to $8,000
Whoever is on the application.
Also you can get a credit for money to move forward in the process.
Are condos homes too? Yes.
There are so many perks to have low income lol. It’s so surprising.
This credit union prides themselves for not having lots of fees tied to the application.
Downpayment + $5000 in closing costs.
Home inspection is optional.
Appraisal is optional
Insurance is required
Can insurance be rolled into escrow? Yes.
Can you use the home equity for a new home?
When buying a home, if you’re self employed, think net income… 2 years tax returns. That net income, a few other items. And you need a 2025 year to date P&L.
Line items 31 on your taxes (net income) schedule C. Add those together. Monthly income average. Debt to income.
Monthly income * 0.45 - zero debt you qualify for a housing payment of $4,500. (45% is good for decent credit and money in the bank).
Your role is to figure out what you qualify for… you focus on the housing payment to try and stay in.
Washington state housing finance commission. The home advantage downpayment assistance program.
Student loans don’t matter, but the monthly payment
The speakers aren’t a huge fan of lots of questions being asked. But, you know.
Next is the speaker all about real estate.
This lady has a warm tone.
She is a native around here and knows a lot about the different areas around here, grew up around here. Lives nearby.
Benefits of homeownership, steps to be ready for your keys, and then how to understand the market stats.
(And feel free to ask lots of questions - love that)
Why are we here today? Why spend Saturday with us?
- why do you want to be a homeowner?
As you hit road bumps, it’s good to keep thinking of “Why” and center you on the journey.
Building equity over time… buying home is one of the best investments you can make. It appreciates over time.
Typically 6-8% year over year
Once you locked into the mortgage payment, you’re not going to see it change much.
Once you’re at that amount, that’s where you’re going to be and as your income increases, your mortgage won’t increase.
But what about when you rebuild the house or repair the bathroom?
The escrow can go up $200/month on mortgage payment…
When values increase, if you do an addition… is there a way to refinance homes? It’s all case by case… interest rates fluxuate?
Home ownership can be tough… once you own it you’re committed to the property.
It’s not the mortgage payment that goes up, it’s the cost of living. Taxes, home insurance… many things folded into the payments. You will see the escrow adjust.
You can also of course customize your home, renovate, landscape and figure out what suits your style.
Some neighborhoods have HOA and that you’d need to explore in the home journey.
Do any loans restrict “commercial/residential”?
These loans don’t work for businesses
This group really wants to not spend a lot of time having conversations and focus… you know, its funny how tough it is to have conversations “off topic” but they must have really limited time or something?
Seven Steps for Being Ready For Keys
Find a fabulous real estate broker (with experience and local knowledge… and ideally they know the local area and can see variations in different neighborhoods.)
Strong communication skills and negotiation
Guide you every step of the way.
Its a big process and you want to trust them and make sure they communicate well together
1-1.5 hour buyer consultation
Know more about what you’re looking for, start the conversation… typically the first step is looking at homes on Redfin. Getting all ducks in a row before diving in.
Start your home search
Then you sign the agreement that you will work with the broker to represent you.
Touring homes
Location, price, condition.
Stay flexible and open-minded
Set your max and then set what you’re comfortable with
- this sounds really risky, you know? But each person will know their own situation well.
- if you have a townhome with other rooms you can rent out
You can have people pay your mortgage and rent out parts of your place.
Once you’re serious, you do all of your Due Diligence and get all documents available… all known info, title report, transactions available. This can help you make informed decisions to move forward.
What are your concerns? How is the market?
It is funny how much they don’t like questions being asked (good questions!) even though it was presented to be “as interactive as possible”. But of course, it’s stressful to speak publicly. It’s the #1 fear of humans or something like that, right? So it’s tough to have things be a little unpredictable. But… when it’s your profession, it’s good to make sure the professionals know all of this info.
There are so many real estate agents to pick from, so, you gotta work for clients.
Make an offer
- work with your broker to write a strong, strategic offer
Your broker will provide the comparative market analysis to help determine an offer price
Discuss terms and contengiciencies like financing and home inspections
Experienced real estate broker will help you navigate and figure out what will likely happen.
So you get to know the buyers, know the seller’s motivation, and then be strategic in putting together offer to attract the seller’s positive response.
Earnest money: 3-5% of the purchase price. It shows you are serious and motivated to move forward. Your down payment.
Like a deposit (and you want to make sure this money isn’t lost, a good offer)
Wow, but sometimes you could lose this money!! There can be risk, but we understand that before making the offer.
Those funds need to be available. Typical delivery is 3-5 days, maybe 3 days.
Spring may be busier
Housing payment: loan, taxes, insurance, HOA, mortgage insurance (if less than 20%), but separate from closing costs
Home inspection: pre inspection is sometimes offered by the seller, but sometimes buyers are doing the inspection on the property too. You want one you feel comfortable with. You want to make sure you understand what is going on with that particular property, look under the hood, make sure things are properly working. Typically 300-900 you need to be ready to spend.
Right now properties have been sitting on the market longer, so you can see the seller is paying for the seller to be inspected, pre-inspected.
You can be sued for making errors or omissions.
You can find ratings of the home inspectors
March Towards Closing
- agree on final terms in the purchase and sale agreement
- Earnest money deposited as outlined in the PSA, credited to you at closing
- Ensure all of the contengencies are addressed
Follow the timeline of key deadlines in the contract
Expect regular communication
These days, you can even set up an automatic search that are sent to the clients. Cause these days you have nearly all the same info as the real estate agents. Then get property updates from there. Ultimately, you know where you’re comfortable giving and taking, much more than the real estate.
The agent’s job is to get you the home you want.
You can set up the search and thing can come on demand.
(I lost track of her #6 & 7)
Make your offer strategic, it may come down to price, terms… whatever the seller’s motivation.
Understanding Market Statistics…
Interest rates these days 5-6% for 30 years. And then 15%
Median sales prices tell you waht homes are selling for in desired areas. And if prices are rising, the market is competitive.
Days on market, these days it’s about 30 days on the market. Is it a multiple offer market? Maybe not. Each property is unique. And great properties go fast. It tends to be hyper local. A property goes like hat, but a few doors down something may have no activity.
As interest rates go down, more people are going to jump in.
So buying a home when interest rates stink, then typically you have the ability to buy without needing to escalate offer.
These days more sellers are providing credits for closing costs. And the market is a bit of a balanced market.
More supply than demand is likely for the spring.
As this event runs out of time, it reminds me of an artist I met a year or so ago, I’ve talked about him a few times. But I remember he wrote on art I bought from him something like, “what does ‘time’ stop?” And I realize it stops the freedom just to have conversations and really dive into things. Cause there’s such extreme pressure right now to stay on track and wrap things up. It’s not like this one event is any different from any others, but the audience is chatty and as much as the host said she wants this to be super engaging, it actually can’t be. I love dreaming of a world where time disappears and situations like this don’t need to happen, but… reality is reality. So it’s just interesting to notice.
Question: if new property has solar and its included in the lease, does it incorporate into the lease?
They said it doesn’t impact the property at all.
Her website has lots of information on this neighborhood. It’s kinda my new favorite website and I had no clue it existed hahahah. OMG.
Okay, this event was informative but I don’t qualify for a while. But it’s really good to know there are so many options available and peopel just have no clue!!! I could have used so much of this kinda stuff when I bought a home years ago. So many opportunities exist in the world but you don’t even know you don’t know.
It’s nice they’re allowing this event to run late.
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time.
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊
