Buying Your First House Checklist -

She didn't trust the online calculators. She sat down and figured out a mortgage payment that wouldn't leave her "house poor," making sure she still had money for groceries and, occasionally, a nice bottle of wine. Chapter 2: The Gatekeepers (Pre-Approval) Before Maya even looked at a porch, she called a lender.

She tallied her savings. It wasn't just the down payment (she was aiming for 10% to avoid massive monthly costs) but also the closing costs —those sneaky fees for lawyers and taxes that usually take up 2–5% of the home's price.

The rain drummed a steady rhythm against the window of Maya’s cramped, third-floor walk-up—the kind of apartment where the radiator clanked like a ghost in the walls. She clicked "Save" on her spreadsheet, her eyes blurring from hours of scrolling through Zillow. buying your first house checklist

The bank sent someone to ensure the house was actually worth what Maya was paying. It came back perfect.

Maya knew she couldn't build a house on sand, and she couldn't buy one with a shaky bank account. She didn't trust the online calculators

Maya insisted on an inspection contingency . She wouldn't buy a house that was secretly being held together by termites and hope.

Two bedrooms (one for an office), a sturdy roof, and a kitchen that didn't look like a 1970s time capsule. She tallied her savings

That night, Maya sat on the floor of her empty living room with Barnaby. No clanking radiators, no noisy neighbors upstairs. Just the quiet sound of a dream that had finally been checked off the list.