The Steps to Buying a House ...

Welcome to "Home-Buying-101", your step by step guide to buying a house. As a licensed Realtor in Battle Creek, Michigan since 1985, I have helped hundreds of families and individuals buy their first, second and even third homes. I have also been a mortgage loan officer with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and have personally bought commercial investment real estate. You might say that real estate has been my life for over 25 years!

I thoroughly enjoy working with first time home buyers, but the process has become a bit complicated these past few years. So I created this site as a step-by-step real estate guide for anyone planning to buy a home.

If you have never bought a house before, you may be asking "can I even buy a house?" I suggest you start with the first article "Should I Buy A House?" Then, if you're ready to move forward in the home buying process, click at the bottom of each page to move to the next article in the guide.

If this isn't your first trip to the real estate rodeo, you may already know your way around the market, so feel free to pick and choose the articles that will best help you. Perhaps you would like to learn more about the various types of mortgages available today (hint: getting a home mortgage has become a lot harder since 2008, you'll want to brush up on current real estate lending policies.)

So browse the site, read up on mortgages, closing costs, and home inspections so you can ask your home buying team (Realtor and mortgage loan officer) the right questions.

*As you might expect, I strongly advise anyone involved in a real estate transaction to seek legal advice. This may even be required in your state (not all). While I have personally written every word on this site and believe it to be accurate, it is NOT a substitute for competent advice from your personal attorney. All users of this site agree to hold the author harmless from actions taken as a result of using this site.

With that said, please know that I wish you good luck on your real estate journey! Now, let's get started by answering your first big question, Should I Buy A House?

All the best,

Barb Dearing, Realtor

Re/Max Perrett Assoc., Inc.

(269) 968-6101 x-124 

barb [at] home-buying-101.com