Buying a home · Stage
Getting started
Deciding whether to buy, sizing up affordability, and understanding what the next year looks like.
The pre-shopping stage covers the work before any property tours. The decisions made here propagate through every subsequent stage — anchoring on a price range that's too high or too low at this point usually shows up downstream as either a stretched budget or a constrained search.
- Figuring out what's affordable on a comfortable monthly basis, not just a lender's qualifying ceiling
- Understanding the gap between the lender's qualifying number and the budget that won't strain monthly cash flow
- Getting financial documentation organized (W-2s, tax returns, bank statements) for the eventual lender shop
- Deciding whether buying makes sense at all relative to renting and investing the difference
Questions to ask at this stage
Ask yourself
- What share of monthly income, after all other obligations, can reasonably go to housing without crowding out other goals?
- How long is the realistic time horizon in the home, and how does that change the rent-vs-buy math?
- Are there life changes likely in the next 12–18 months (job, family, relocation) that should inform whether buying makes sense now?
- What does the local market's typical down payment look like for the price range under consideration, and what's the cash position relative to that?
Articles in this stage
- Buying your first home, the seven stages and what each one actually involvesA first home purchase is a six-to-twelve-month process, not a single transaction. Knowing the seven stages, which ones move fast and which ones grind, makes the rest of the journey significantly less alarming.
- Rent vs. buy, the honest comparisonMost rent-vs-buy framing quietly favors buying, by understating ownership costs and assuming the rent-side savings just disappear. The honest version models full ownership cost, the investment alternative on the down payment, and shows the breakeven year explicitly.
- Should you rent or buy right now, how to think about timing in a high-rate environmentThe rent-vs-buy math shifts when mortgage rates are well above the long-run average. The honest answer to "should I rent or buy right now" depends on holding period, rent growth assumptions, and whether refinancing later changes the calculus.
More in the buyer journey
- 01 · You are hereGetting started
- 02FinancingHow mortgages work, what lenders look at, and how to compare loan products honestly.
- 03SearchingHow to read listings critically and how the market actually moves in any specific area.
- 04Making an offerWhat goes into a contract, how negotiation typically works, and which terms carry the most weight.
- 05Under contractInspections, contingencies, appraisals, and the period when the deal is at most risk of falling apart.
- 06ClosingThe legal mechanics of transferring ownership, the closing disclosure, and the day itself.
- 07AfterThe first year of ownership, the homestead exemption, and the tax basics buyers commonly miss.