BUYING A HOUSE

Be excited, not intimidated by the process.

Until recently the red hot real estate market meant one thing.
 Sellers held nearly all the leverage.
 How times have changed.
To be sure there's still a substantial shortage of houses for sale compared to the number of buyers out there. 
It's a different world completely, particularly for buyers.
The chief culprit here, higher interest rates, aren't the only reason either.
Inflation and general economic unease have dragged both prices and expectations down to earth. 
Gone (at least for the most part) are the bidding wars and unreasonable expectations of sellers.

A personal story:
 Several years ago when we moved from our previous state to our current one We had the good fortune of selling in the middle of one of the hottest sellers markets literally ever. 
Despite several missteps by one of the real estate people we were working with buyer interest was still strong.
 It might have taken a little longer than we would have liked but it wasn't exactly a brutal process. 
Everytime there was a scheduled showing we just took a quick trip for around the block for a quick ice cream sundae.
Maybe a week into this whole process a (buyers) realtor knocks on my door and asked if he could show his client our house.
 No appointment was scheduled and we were caught off guard. 
  I politely asked why an appointment wasn't set up first and he said he thought one had been. I told him I couldn't allow it unless my agent approved it.
I called her and she said she hadn't heard anything either.  Then she said she would call the buyer agent and fast fix it. Five minutes later she called us back and said to let them see the house.
We left, stopped back by and after an hour we decided to see if there was any problem. The agent said they were just leaving and that his client was just insisting on being extremely thorough, "considering what we were asking for". 
 The agent was maybe twenty-five at most. And I think he was more inexperienced than unprofessional.  My realtor later said she agreed with me on this point. Anyway, as they were leaving the buyers (about 30) began listing off at least 8–10 complaints in the less than two minutes it took for them to walk back to their cars. He finished all this by informing me that I was just going to have to lower my price to an amount he felt was more reasonable!  Since we were looking for a quick sale we listed our house very reasonable.  I was by this time a little angry which I rarely am.  I told just that and then said considering the interest already expressed the more likely scenario was an offering price OVER what we were asking. 
Then I closed any possibility of further discussions by telling him, in front of his agent, it was unfortunate there wasn't the possibility of a deal and good luck in your future endeavors.
 Maybe I wasn't loud, but I was very clear.
  But not rude.

If your in the market of buying a home you should do everything you can do to stack the odds in your favor.
That doesn't mean being hard-nosed, that's counterproductive at best.
 At worse, you're just being a jerk for no good reason.
If you remember only one thing about this whole section it's this.

The amount of preparation you do is DIRECTLY RELATED to how much you wind up saving.
The very first thing you should do when you decide to buy a house is make sure all your personal finances are completely in order FIRST.

You need to know what your yearly salary comes out to (and your spouses) your debts, your work situation(s).
You should be in complete alignment with your budget for at least 6 months. 
If there are any financial red flags you can be sure they will come up.
 With that you can begin the actual process of purchasing your dream house.

1. If your married sit down with yours spouse and decide EXACTLY what you want and take the time to rank them in importance.

2. Decide where you want to move to and why. 

3. Decide what is the maximum purchase price.

4. In most cases you need a minimum of 20%.
 But aim for at least 25%. 
Your future financial self will thank you.

5. Get pre-approved for an amount that leaves you no chance of being short.  This is an absolute non-negotiable must! You are at a gigantic advantage over buyers that aren't pre-approved. 
It's leverage over the seller you give to yourself. Getting pre-approved is so important that some agents, particularly more established ones, will require a pre-approval letter.
The reason being they don't want to spend time with clients they feel might not be serious.  Being pre-approved usually makes the entire process faster.
Once you find the right house and the sellers agree to terms the whole process generally stops until financing is completed. This can be a huge wrench in the gears.
The more time goes by in any real estate transaction the more time for any number of things to go wrong.

6. Hire a good real estate agent. 
There's several factors to consider.  How experienced are they, how many homes have they actually sold are they familiar with the area you're looking into.
 There now have to be a couple ground rules (you might not to call them that but thats what they are). Are you OK with them calling you when they spot a potential home or do you exclusively want to do the searching? Can they call you anytime? When can and can't you call? If your not happy with their performance make sure you can fire them. 
Most agents will have no issue letting go if you clearly indicate your not happy. Some agents won't be so accommodating.  This is something you ask BEFORE you hire them.
Make sure they understand what it is your insisting on, nicely, but in writing. 
Just saying something along the lines of, "if your not happy with my performance at any time I can assure you I'll do whatever you feel is in your best interest" or blah,blah,blah, to that effect.  
Not good enough!  And most agents don't have an issue with it. 
This said, your really hiring an agent to work WITH you.  No agent is going to do any extra work on your behalf If your unpleasant to work with. 
  Don't be unpleasant to work with.

7. When you find the right house make a list of any concerns you might have. Also take note of any issues you can or can't live with.
 No dealbreakers.

8. Make an offer.
 Its your agent's job to put in a written offer not yours. 
 Let them navigate this part of the process.

9. Schedule an inspection. 
Get a good inspector. Your Realtor may be able to recommend one. 
If you have a specific person in mind tell them as up-front as possible.

10. Get an appraisal.  When you buy a house you generally need to get an appraisal.
Lenders want to know you're not massively overpaying. And perhaps putting yourself in a financial trouble. With their money.
There shouldn't be a significant difference between the appraisal and your written offer.  But if there is you might have to pay at least part of the difference. 
Or even lose the loan altogether.

11. Purchase a homeowner's insurance policy. 
Your lender can usually help you this. Its a good idea to work with them as they probably have an ongoing relationship with those they recommend.
Still you should have at least two or more names ahead of time. Start with your insurance agent.

12. Immediately set boundaries with your agent. Remember you have more leverage against a seller who is selling a house to purchase another home than someone with flexible options.
A few last things to remember. The process of buying or selling a house is one that always hit a least a few snafus along the way.
No matter how much preparation on your part or how competent your agent is there will be issues to be ironed out. It will happen.
All you can do is make certain that nothing you do could hamper the process. That and keep the lines of communication open with all involved, including your employment personnel that need to know.
This all said, buying a home at the right price for the right reason can be the wisest decision you can make.

It's worth it.