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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 our team 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 we 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 Real Estate Experts

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

Passion & Expertise

Our goal is to provide you with the most personalized service possible, meticulously designed to help you navigate the process of buying your dream home. We are dedicated to understanding your unique needs and preferences, ensuring that every step of the journey is tailored to achieve your ultimate home-buying aspirations.

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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!). We 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. We 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. We 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 into the home of your dreams. 

See Why Our Clients Love Us

Testimonials

"I am so grateful I found Shae to represent my wife and me with our home sale. We are out-of-state and Shae handled every detail from beginning to end. She is trustworthy, professional, efficient, and she was a Godsend. Very detail oriented and she went way above and beyond in assisting with everything from selling furniture, coordinating repairs/updates to the home and recommendations for estate sales and attorneys! 5 star service all the way! I highly recommend Shae and her team for your next transaction."
"I am so grateful I found Shae to represent my wife and me with our home sale. We are out-of-state and Shae handled every detail from beginning to end. She is trustworthy, professional, efficient, and she was a Godsend. Very detail oriented and she went way above and beyond in assisting with everything from selling furniture, coordinating repairs/updates to the home and recommendations for estate sales and attorneys! 5 star service all the way! I highly recommend Shae and her team for your next transaction."
Seller
"We worked with Jessica to buy our home in Beaufort. She was amazing! We were living in Hawaii and purchasing our home from afar. She did very thorough video and FaceTime home walk-throughs for us, was very responsive when we were interested in a listing (a virtual walk-through would be scheduled immediately) and she provided lots of great listings for us and advice on neighborhoods. She knows the area very well. Even with the time difference, she was incredibly responsive to texts, emails, and phone calls. Jessica is so kind, patient and genuinely cares about finding her clients the perfect home. She went out of her way to help us during the closing as well as post-closing. She also helped us coordinate upgrades for the house, which was beyond helpful! We trust her completely and would absolutely recommend her! The entire process with Jessica and with Chambers Helms was seamless and smooth. We can’t believe how easy they made it for us to find a wonderful home for our family from afar! We truly can’t thank Jessica enough, she made the whole process fun instead of stressful. We appreciate her knowledge and support so much!"
"We worked with Jessica to buy our home in Beaufort. She was amazing! We were living in Hawaii and purchasing our home from afar. She did very thorough video and FaceTime home walk-throughs for us, was very responsive when we were interested in a listing (a virtual walk-through would be scheduled immediately) and she provided lots of great listings for us and advice on neighborhoods. She knows the area very well. Even with the time difference, she was incredibly responsive to texts, emails, and phone calls. Jessica is so kind, patient and genuinely cares about finding her clients the perfect home. She went out of her way to help us during the closing as well as post-closing. She also helped us coordinate upgrades for the house, which was beyond helpful! We trust her completely and would absolutely recommend her! The entire process with Jessica and with Chambers Helms was seamless and smooth. We can’t believe how easy they made it for us to find a wonderful home for our family from afar! We truly can’t thank Jessica enough, she made the whole process fun instead of stressful. We appreciate her knowledge and support so much!"
Molly P.
"Shae was absolutely the best in our long distance, 2-year search for 'the home' to move to back in the Low Country. She was patient, calm, assuring and above all, she listened and kept our best interests in mind. We finally found the best spot and had an offer accepted with closing in a short 3 weeks. Then when it came time to do spruce up like paint, floors, cleaning, etc. She had all the contacts right in her phone. Such a wonderful experience!"
"Shae was absolutely the best in our long distance, 2-year search for 'the home' to move to back in the Low Country. She was patient, calm, assuring and above all, she listened and kept our best interests in mind. We finally found the best spot and had an offer accepted with closing in a short 3 weeks. Then when it came time to do spruce up like paint, floors, cleaning, etc. She had all the contacts right in her phone. Such a wonderful experience!"
Buyer
"Jessica was amazing from the start! First things first, Jessica is a native of Beaufort, so she really knows the area! We explained to her that we were looking for a rental investment property, and she immediately set us up with email notifications of properties that were a possible fit for us. She was always fast to respond, set up quick showings and help us with any questions that came up. Our offer and contract process was smooth, and she was quick to negotiate the small inspection findings on our new home. Since we live in the Upstate, she took care of anything we needed in town and even grabbed the keys for us since we did a mail-in closing. We were extremely happy with our buying experience using Chambers-Helms and specifically, Jessica! I highly recommend her to any buyers/sellers, especially for anyone moving to the Beaufort area!"
"Jessica was amazing from the start! First things first, Jessica is a native of Beaufort, so she really knows the area! We explained to her that we were looking for a rental investment property, and she immediately set us up with email notifications of properties that were a possible fit for us. She was always fast to respond, set up quick showings and help us with any questions that came up. Our offer and contract process was smooth, and she was quick to negotiate the small inspection findings on our new home. Since we live in the Upstate, she took care of anything we needed in town and even grabbed the keys for us since we did a mail-in closing. We were extremely happy with our buying experience using Chambers-Helms and specifically, Jessica! I highly recommend her to any buyers/sellers, especially for anyone moving to the Beaufort area!"
Amy S.
"Laura did an outstanding job assisting us with the purchase of our home. We relocated to Beaufort from MN. Prior to our move, we visited Beaufort and Laura showed us the areas we had relayed to her that would be of interest to us. She was right on, as we purchased a home in one of the top two areas we wanted to be! Laura is very personable, responsive, and is truly dedicated to helping you find your perfect home. She is very professional and very caring on a personal level. We would highly recommend her and should we ever be in a situation where we need a professional Real Estate Agent, she will be the person we contact. Laura, thank you for everything you did to help make our cross-country move perfect! We appreciate everything you have done for us and we love our new home!"
"Laura did an outstanding job assisting us with the purchase of our home. We relocated to Beaufort from MN. Prior to our move, we visited Beaufort and Laura showed us the areas we had relayed to her that would be of interest to us. She was right on, as we purchased a home in one of the top two areas we wanted to be! Laura is very personable, responsive, and is truly dedicated to helping you find your perfect home. She is very professional and very caring on a personal level. We would highly recommend her and should we ever be in a situation where we need a professional Real Estate Agent, she will be the person we contact. Laura, thank you for everything you did to help make our cross-country move perfect! We appreciate everything you have done for us and we love our new home!"
Buyer
"Ashley helped both me to buy and then later to sell, and to sum it up, she makes it easy! She really listens to you and makes you feel like a priority. Very thankful to have had her help and any future real estate needs, she’s my go-to!"
"Ashley helped both me to buy and then later to sell, and to sum it up, she makes it easy! She really listens to you and makes you feel like a priority. Very thankful to have had her help and any future real estate needs, she’s my go-to!"
Rachel T.
"I would like to thank Grayson Spurlock of the chambers helms group for my recent real estate purchase in Beaufort County. I was over 2000 miles away, and with Grayson's help, pictures, videos, and communication I was able to close on the property remotely. It is exactly what I wanted, so, again, thanks Grayson, couldn't have done it without you."
"I would like to thank Grayson Spurlock of the chambers helms group for my recent real estate purchase in Beaufort County. I was over 2000 miles away, and with Grayson's help, pictures, videos, and communication I was able to close on the property remotely. It is exactly what I wanted, so, again, thanks Grayson, couldn't have done it without you."
Michael M.
"We have had the pleasure of working with both Laura and Shae for years. The entire group is incredibly knowledgeable of the area, always professional, and deeply committed to finding the best options to meet our changing needs. We highly recommend them to anyone looking for a real estate agent who truly puts their clients first."
"We have had the pleasure of working with both Laura and Shae for years. The entire group is incredibly knowledgeable of the area, always professional, and deeply committed to finding the best options to meet our changing needs. We highly recommend them to anyone looking for a real estate agent who truly puts their clients first."
Kelly S.
"Shae and her team are the absolute best! They were so great to work with. They continually had our best interest at work and helped us every step of the way in our buying process. Shae went above and beyond to assist us as we were purchasing our home from out of state. She went to our walk-throughs and meetings, sent us videos, kept us informed and helped us get what we wanted. I would hire them again and again. Shae was not only personable and great to work with but knowledgeable and helpful."
"Shae and her team are the absolute best! They were so great to work with. They continually had our best interest at work and helped us every step of the way in our buying process. Shae went above and beyond to assist us as we were purchasing our home from out of state. She went to our walk-throughs and meetings, sent us videos, kept us informed and helped us get what we wanted. I would hire them again and again. Shae was not only personable and great to work with but knowledgeable and helpful."
Jennifer H.
"This is the most professional realtor team that I have ever experienced. Grayson was absolutely amazing and a delight to work with! She dedicatedly helped my family through the sale of a beloved family home. Grayson is caring, understanding, communicative, and truly went above and beyond, making this difficult process extremely easy. Grayson assisted us in many important ways, as the sale was completed while we were in another state. I completely trust Grayson and if anyone is fortunate to have her as your realtor, know that you will be in the very best hands! I cannot recommend or thank her enough!"
"This is the most professional realtor team that I have ever experienced. Grayson was absolutely amazing and a delight to work with! She dedicatedly helped my family through the sale of a beloved family home. Grayson is caring, understanding, communicative, and truly went above and beyond, making this difficult process extremely easy. Grayson assisted us in many important ways, as the sale was completed while we were in another state. I completely trust Grayson and if anyone is fortunate to have her as your realtor, know that you will be in the very best hands! I cannot recommend or thank her enough!"
Mbeth L.

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