First time home-buyer who also writes articles in her job, agreed to be a Guest Blogger for Central Idaho Properties, LLC. To protect her privacy, we have not identified her by name and used a photo of another young lady in her age group. Luckily, she helped us out by writing a fantastic first person blog article for other first time home buyers who are seeking the professional guidance of a Residential Specialist in the area of Grangeville and Cottonwood Idaho. In approaching the start of the 2016 real estate season, we felt it was the perfect time to post the blog article so that it might help other first time home buyers who would relate to the challenges and lessons she learned.
Please contact Central Idaho Properties if you are a first time home buyer and need a caring specialist to get you into your new home.
Buying a home is a challenge and a reward.
I just bought my own home for the first time last month, and I am very happy, but I’m also very worried.
It’s a big responsibility, after all.
I have always lived with other people, for as long as I can remember. I know that it is a bit silly for a woman in her thirties to never have lived alone, but that was the situation I found myself in. It seemed fine, and I never had a problem with it. However, I finally found myself in a position where I had to move yet again, and I thought to myself: why don’t you have a place of your own? So that is when I got serious about looking for a place of my very own.
I knew I had pretty good credit, and that I had managed to save a little bit of money living with other people. I was also lucky enough to have a steady job. I think all of those things helped me when it came time for me to really get serious about buying a house. I had watched so many friends go through the home buying process that I knew that I was in a good position, and I was grateful for that. Still, I still had a lot of work to do.
I decided to tackle securing approval for financing FIRST, which I had heard suggested many times. But there were so many options, how would I know who would give me the best rate? That’s when I decided to interview at least 3 Realtors to find out who would be the best fit for me and determine the right agent who would show me the care and guidance I really needed. After all, using an expert to help me jump all the hoops seemed like a no-brainer. Through my interviews, I immediately felt a rapport with RaWanda Goehring of Central Idaho Properties, LLC. She was so sweet and caring and I got the feeling she really did have my best interest at the top of her priorities. RaWanda got me started with suggestions on where to go to get approved for financing my home. I didn’t even bother looking at houses until I interviewed several different mortgage specialists. As it turned out, I went to my local credit union [ Pine Tree Community Credit Union ] and really liked the fact that my mortgage would not be sold to some huge conglomerate. I got pre-approved for a certain amount of money and knew what I could afford. That’s when I felt a little more secure about what I was getting into. I think that saved me a lot of time as well. Because I had done the work of getting a mortgage already, there was no point in looking at homes I couldn’t afford.
Now the time was right to start looking at houses in my price range. That part of the home buying process was so much fun but a little nerve wracking. I was ready to get my home, but I didn’t want to rush into anything in case the perfect house came along! After sitting and talking for hours in RaWanda’s office, we came up with a list of things my dream house would have.
There were a good number of houses on the market in the communities of Grangeville and Cottonwood I had identified. There is no doubt in my mind, I would have been overwhelmed if I didn’t have the expert guidance of my real estate professional. I was also really lucky that I knew the neighborhoods well enough to know where I wanted to live and where I wanted to avoid.
In a few days, RaWanda came back with a bunch of houses to look at. She seemed to have a unique sense of telepathy that she combined from the criteria I had shared, and I loved a lot of the houses she selected. I guess thats why RaWanda was the “First Time Home Buyer Specialist”!
RaWanda set appointments for the homes that fit my budget ( and in some cases, she identified ones that were a little higher priced than I could afford, but had been on the market for a while and felt we might be able to negotiate into my price range.)
Looking at houses was by far one of the most enjoyable parts of the entire home buying process. I was so excited to be buying a house, that I imagined myself in every house I saw. It was hard to pick just one, and I even looked at a few houses twice. It’s a big expense, and I wanted to make sure that I picked just the right house to live in.
Finally I saw the house that is mine today, and I just knew it had to be mine. The closing process was a bit of a nail biter, but when I finally reached closing day and signed the paperwork I was so happy. My Realtor was there every step of the way and sat with me during the entire closing. I grabbed her hand and she comforted me several times through that process of closing. I can’t thank her enough for being such a professional, sensitive, kind and knowledgeable real estate agent for my first home. She even got me a really pretty big plant that she left on the counter in my new home when I brought a load of stuff over. Smiles all over.
I highly recommend RaWanda Goehring who was the quintessential professional during my first time home buying process. Oh, and being a homeowner is terrific!
