Buying Your First House Checklist -

She didn't trust the online calculators. She sat down and figured out a mortgage payment that wouldn't leave her "house poor," making sure she still had money for groceries and, occasionally, a nice bottle of wine. Chapter 2: The Gatekeepers (Pre-Approval) Before Maya even looked at a porch, she called a lender.

Maya knew she couldn't build a house on sand, and she couldn't buy one with a shaky bank account.

Maya walked through the house with a pro who pointed out a fussy water heater and a drafty window. She used this to ask for a small credit at closing. buying your first house checklist

The seller countered. Maya stayed calm, checked her budget one last time, and met them in the middle. Chapter 5: The Deep Dive (Due Diligence)

The rain drummed a steady rhythm against the window of Maya’s cramped, third-floor walk-up—the kind of apartment where the radiator clanked like a ghost in the walls. She clicked "Save" on her spreadsheet, her eyes blurring from hours of scrolling through Zillow. She didn't trust the online calculators

An hour before closing, she checked that the seller hadn't taken the fridge or left a giant hole in the wall.

This wasn't just a "maybe." It was a document proving she was a serious buyer. In a competitive market, it was her armor. Maya knew she couldn't build a house on

The closing day was a blur of ink and heavy folders. Maya signed her name more times than she ever had in her life.