If I plan to buy this spring, what should I be doing now?

Key Insights

• Starting your home search this spring? Get ahead of the competition with mortgage pre-approval or pre-qualification.
• Set up automated search alerts to ensure you never miss a for-sale house in your desired neighborhood.
• Ask your prospective real estate agent questions. A casual interview can help establish the right professional relationship.

The spring housing market begins long before the first flowers bloom. Here we’re covering everything you need to know when preparing for a successful home purchase this spring.

Budget for your mortgage

Establishing a budget is the first step in a house hunt. If you’re still a few months away from beginning your home search, you may want to get pre-qualified for a mortgage loan. Pre-qualification offers you an estimate of the mortgage amount for which you might qualify. The process takes only a few minutes, and is automated after you supply your financial information to a lender.

If, however, you want to be fully prepared to buy your dream home, you might want to get pre-approved instead. Pre-approval is a more detailed process where you submit a comprehensive financial history to the lender in order to get a pre-approval letter. A pre-approval letter grants buyers:

• An assumed mortgage loan approval amount.
• An estimate of your expected interest rate.
• More negotiating power in the buying process.

While pre-qualification and pre-approval can help guide your mortgage budget, you’ll want to pay attention to rate shifts during this time. With your lender, discuss whether locking in a mortgage rate might be a smart option for you.

Start your location search

Once your assumed budget is calculated, the real fun starts! Create a few saved searches on EdinaRealty.com or the Edina Realty mobile app. Indicate your anticipated budget and the city, neighborhood or hand-drawn area where you’d like to search. Be sure to “favorite” standout homes so you can easily return to them.

Hints: Slightly adjusting variables in your saved searches can help increase your search results. And, you can set up automated hourly or daily alerts on homes, depending on how serious you are – and how competitive your preferred market area is.

Interview and work with a REALTOR®

You’ll benefit from hiring a REALTOR even before you’re ready to tour homes or make an offer on a property. Developing a trusted relationship and communication standards before the home search will help lead to a successful home purchase.

There are many questions you can ask a REALTOR when buying, but you’ll especially want to confirm that they:

• Understand the intricacies of the city or neighborhood where you hope to buy.
• Deeply understand the local market and how it could impact your purchase.
• Have references from mentors or past clients that they are willing to share with you.
• Have the time and desire to work with you, regardless of your timeline or budget.

Moving forward with a spring home purchase

If you’re ready to purchase a home this spring but want to learn more about how the buying process works, we can help. Reach out to Edina Realty or your agent to get all of your questions answered by a homebuying expert.