The home buying process can be filled with essential steps and important decisions, but you should always do what you can to be prepared through the entire process. Preparation in your home buying process includes evaluating your budget, getting pre-approved for a mortgage, and looking at your home wish list. Here are some recommendations to further help you as you prepare to buy a house.

Establish a Down Payment

When you go into the home buying process, you should expect that you will need to pay some money when you put an offer on a home and also at the closing. Once you have found the home that you want to buy, you will need to submit an offer of purchase and also include an earnest money deposit along with your offer. This earnest money is set aside in an escrow account but will be forfeited by you if you break the purchase agreement contract. So paying an earnest money deposit shows the seller you are serious and are putting your own cash into the offer.

Although your earnest money deposit can be considered a down payment, you will need to come up with funds to bring to the closing, which will be a down payment for your actual home mortgage. Depending on the mortgage loan requirements and what you want to put into the home's purchase, your down payment may be several to tens of thousands of dollars. This amount is traditionally calculated as a percentage of the home's price where the rest of the purchase price is financed. So, plan early so you can start to save for your down payment and be as prepared as possible for your home purchase.

Arrange For a Home Inspection

Once you have negotiated a purchase contract on your dream home, you won't want to forget to get it inspected before you close. A home inspection is the preferred way for you to evaluate a home's condition and determine if there are any problems in the home's structure, foundation, roof, electrical, plumbing, and so on. 

A professional home inspector is trained to thoroughly check the home and find out if systems are working properly or components in a home need some repairs. A home inspection will help you determine that a home's exterior drainage is causing basement moisture and there may be mold and mildew growth present in the crawlspace, for example. Then you can renegotiate these issues into your home's purchase with the seller so they are repaired or financially adjusted in the price.

For more information, contact a real estate agent near you to learn more.