The subject of being able to finance the very first home that you are buying is something that has been an open debate for quite a while. When you are looking for Houses for sale, you need to know how you are going to pay for that house in the first place. You might be wise if you start by talking to a lender (be it a bank or a mortgage company) and get a pre-qualification for a mortgage and then see if they will give you a Pre-Approval letter that states how much of a mortgage that the particular lender will give you. You might find out that this gets you further than you think when you are looking at a FSBO or any other type of Real Estate purchase.
When you are looking to buy that very first home you will need to remember to get a Pre-Qualification for a mortgage first before you even start looking so that you have an idea about the price range that you can realistically look in. There is no point in looking at a house that is listed for $150,000 when you actually can only comfortably afford to buy a house that is between $75,000 and $100,000.
This is why it is highly advised that you speak to a mortgage company, bank or lender before you even start looking at properties. It is not meant to discourage you from looking for that first house; only to help you to know exactly how much you really can spend. The main reason for this is so that you don’t wind up getting in over your head and losing the house to foreclosure because you fell behind on your mortgage payments.
You, and the seller, will also want to know that you have an arrangement in place for financing. Believe it or not, this is something that will help speed the purchase along because the owner/seller knows that you already have financing arranged (or at least have the process stated). You would be surprised how relieved the sellers are when they know that you have a mortgage arranged.