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Buyer's Guide

A Step-by-Step First Time Buyer's Guide

Buying a home is one of the most exciting milestones of your life. To prepare yourself for this moment, you need to know what to expect during the process. This step-by-step first time buyer’s guide created by your agent will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

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Step 1: Research

Do you already know where you want to buy? If you want a condo, townhome, or single-family home? Which features do you like and dislike? What’s available on the market now? If you answered no to any of these questions, now is the time to start researching. In addition to looking for homes that interest you, also take note of any changes in asking prices. This could give you valuable insight into housing trends in specific neighborhoods and help you when the time comes to make an offer.

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Step 2: Decide on Your Budget

Notice I said to decide on your budget—not determine how much the mortgage company will give you. In many cases, a mortgage company will pre-approve you for more than you’re comfortable spending, which is why you need to determine the monthly payment you feel comfortable with before talking to a lender. This likely includes doing a full household budget and taking into consideration what changes other than a mortgage payment will occur once you move into your new home. If you’ve lived in an apartment or with roommates, you may overlook new expenses like garbage, water, or HOA fees that could easily blow your budget.

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Step 3: Get Prequalified

Just because you think you can afford a certain payment every month doesn’t mean the mortgage company will agree. Just as they may approve you for too large of an amount, they may also approve you for a lesser amount or deny you a mortgage altogether. Lack of time at a job, insufficient credit, past bankruptcies, or other financial issues can cause major problems when trying to secure a mortgage. Before you get your heart set on a home, talk to a mortgage professional to find out what amount you can qualify for. This will also be an advantage when you make an offer on a home, as some sellers won’t entertain offers from those who aren’t already prequalified for a loan.

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Step 4: Choose a Real Estate Agent

Can you shop for, look at, and ultimately make an offer on a home without a real estate agent? Technically yes, but why would you when it costs you nothing for an agent like me to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will I help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but I also have a knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where my expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let me show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

My goal is to provide you with the most personalized service that is designed to help you buy your dream home

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Step 5: Find the Right Home

This should be the most enjoyable step of the entire process (other than moving in!). I will arrange showings of homes you’re interested in that are within your price range. Take notes about what you like and don’t like, and make sure to pay attention to details. Turn light switches on and off, open and close doors, and run the faucets in various rooms. Don’t limit your inspection to the home itself. Make sure to take time to explore the neighborhood and keep an eye on traffic at certain times of the day, the parking situation, and how close it is to necessities like schools and grocery stores.

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Step 6: Make an Offer

Once you have selected the perfect home, work with your agent to craft a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes on the market. Depending on what the home is listed at and whether the current environment is a buyer’s or seller’s market, your offer may be below, at, or even above the asking price. I will be able to help you negotiate if you receive a counteroffer and reach an agreement. At this point, the house will go into escrow.

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Step 7: Have the Home Inspected

In most cases, your offer will be contingent on having the home inspected to ensure there is no major structural damage or large repairs needed. I can help you arrange this, and you can schedule it within days of making an offer. If there are no major issues, the process goes to step eight. If there is, you can renegotiate your offer based on what needs to be fixed, or you can withdraw it.

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Step 8: Select Your Loan

Now is the time to go back to the mortgage lender who pre-approved or pre-qualified you and choose your mortgage. You will be presented with various options based on your unique financial situation, including fixed-rate, variable-rate, 15-year, 30-year, or special programs such as VA loans or FHA loans. Work with your mortgage lender to select the option you feel the most comfortable with.

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Step 9: Get a Home Appraisal

Your lender will have your new home appraised so they have their independent value of it. The appraisal is to ensure that all parties involved are paying a fair price for the house.

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Step 10: Finish Paperwork

No one looks forward to all the paperwork involved in buying a home, but it’s a necessary part of the process. Fortunately, everything will be arranged by your lender and title company and, when you’re finished, you’ll know you are the legal owner of your new home.

Congratulations!

After signing the final paperwork to complete the purchase, you are now the owner of a new house. It may take a few days for your loan to be funded once the paperwork has been returned to the lender, but once that check is delivered to the seller, you’ll be all set to move to your home. 

Understanding the NAR Lawsuit Settlement

What You Need to Know

In March 2024, in response to a pending lawsuit judgment against them, the National Association of REALTORS® released a set of proposed policy and practice changes that will reframe the relationship between real estate professionals and buyers. To be clear, the industry’s fiduciary commitment to the best interests of clients hasn’t changed, but the way agents and buyer clients formalize professional relationships will.

Changes to the Homebuying Experience

As a homebuyer, this proposed settlement means there will be some changes to your real estate experience:

1. Required Buyer Agreements

Prior to this settlement proposal, it was acceptable (though not widely practiced) for buyer’s agents to forge relatively informal, unwritten agreements with their clients regarding service. Following these proposed changes, buyers must sign a service agreement with a real estate professional in order to be shown homes. 

2. Buyer’s Agent Compensation

Prior to the proposed changes in the settlement, buyer’s agents were compensated via a cooperation agreement with the seller and seller’s agent facilitated by the multiple listing service. While this sort of cooperation is still allowed, the MLS is no longer allowed to coordinate it. Buyer’s agents will now be responsible for negotiating their own compensation with clients. 

FAQ

As a homebuyer, these changes will require new, important conversations between you and your real estate professional. A buyer service agreement will formalize your agent’s fiduciary responsibility to you, further protecting your interests. It will allow the opportunity for real, transparent communication with your agent around compensation, offering you a clear understanding of the cost of services and how those services benefit you. 

These conversations will ultimately set buyers up for greater success in their transactions. More buyers will start the home search process with a clear understanding of their strategy, how their agent will support them, and what it will take to get to the closing table. 

Two major changes: First, compensation offers to buyer’s agents will no longer be displayed on the MLS, and the MLS won’t be allowed to facilitate commission cooperation between the buy and sell sides of transactions. Second, all buyers will be required to sign a buyer agreement with their agent outlining service terms, including commission requirements.

Yes. Luxury Presence has created a strategy guide for agents seeking advice on negotiating buy-side compensation. Get your copy of The Future of Buy-Side Compensation here. 

The best agents have shifted their thinking from the top line to the bottom line. They're obsessed with the client experience. They're taking action very quickly to level up the technology in their businesses because they understand it's the only way to deliver strong profitability and a world-class client experience.

How I Work with Buyers

As my client, you can expect nothing but the highest level of service and counsel. I take my fiduciary commitment to you extremely seriously and believe that the best way to advocate for your best interests is through preparation. For each property my clients consider, I create a complete set of market research, potential pricing and offer strategies, contract negotiation tactics, and more. 

Before the NAR lawsuit settlement proposal, some buyer’s agents were able to get away with doing the bare minimum. Thanks to assumed cooperation with the seller, they might get paid for simply showing up, unlocking doors, and pushing papers. While that was never my approach, it is now no longer the world we live in. As my client, you can rest assured that I will provide you with expert-level service and advice throughout our professional relationship.

Testimonials

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  • Rajiv was very supportive throughout the listing and selling process and walked us through every step in detail. He wrnt beyond the duties of a seller's agent and made sure that everything was immaculate for listing to go up. We were stressed by the market conditions but his highly data driven pricing and promptness resulted in an offer within 15 days with quick closing. He was a big support for us throughout the process like a family and that's something which can't be expected. His support till date for anything that came past selling is a pleasant surprise. He is always available and we highly recommend him.
    — Navoday T.
  • Rajiv represented us while selling our home in July 2022. The market was trending downwards, and he helped us get on market in a week. He created a great marketing plan for the home, which was very impressive. He guided us well with pricing and negotiations with a few potential buyers. He was able to lock in our sale before other competing homes in the neighborhood. We would highly recommend him for the San Jose neighborhoods.
    — Seller
  • Rajiv is an incredibly professional real estate agent with a "Problem solver mindset". He has a very engaging personality which comes with a very good understanding and knowledge of the local housing market. With him, we didn't have to do months of house searching and visits to buy our house. He helped us buy our dream house within few weeks. His diligent attention to our requirements was very pleasing to us. He also helped us sell our house without any delays even when the housing market was going down and we were scared that we might not get the price we were aiming for. Buying and selling the house at the same time can be quite cumbersome, but th...
    — Ashok K.
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About Rajiv

Seller's Guide

Exceeding Expectations, Every Time

Exceeding expectations isn’t just a goal—it’s the standard. Whether buying, selling, or investing, expect nothing but excellence.

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Contact Details

RAJIV KOHLI | CA DRE# 01132306

Phone

(408) 835-4317

Email

[email protected]

Address

5609 SILVER CREEK VALLEY RD SAN JOSE CA 95138

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