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I want to buy a house – where do I start? When thinking of purchasing a house, there are logical steps to take. It may seem at first thought to begin searching homes on the internet. While this is a great source of information for the potential buyer, it is not the most important and crucial place to start.

First and foremost the buyer needs to find a lender they can trust. How can that be accomplished? Below are a few common ways to find a lender & Realtor when asking yourself, I want to buy a house, where do I start?Ask for referrals from your friends or family for both a Realtor and lender. Referrals are a fantastic way to find a professional.Search on Trulia.com & Activerain.com. Active agents that are engaged both in their physical communities as well as online communities can be found here. Once a few interesting prospects have been found, read their blog. A buyer can learn the style of the professional by the way they communicate with their audience via the internet. Finding a personality style to meet one’s needs is important as finding a professional with the most knowledge about their market.

Once you narrow down your persons of interest, send them a communication via YOUR favorite way to communicate. Some prefer text, email or social media, while others prefer to just pick up the phone. This will give the buyer a better understanding of how timely this professional responds to an inquiry. With all the difference means of communication these days, this step is important.

Whether you find the Realtor first or the lender first doesn’t truly matter. In many cases, a Realtor will surround themselves with very competent professionals that are an integral part of the transaction. Vice versa, the lender will have their finger on the pulse of the most effective agents in their area (in many cases).

Now that you’ve found your professionals, take the time to contact them and set an appointment. In the lender’s case the initial information can be gathered over the phone and necessary documents can be emailed or faxed. This process can take less than an hour. This is your ROAD-MAP. Now you know exactly where you are financially headed.

Putting the “cart before the horse’ so to speak in searching properties before the financial road-map can lead to disappointment. It’s never fun to get excited about a property only to find it is out of the buyer’s price range. Save yourself that frustration by following these steps above when thinking, I want to buy a house, where do I start?

Originally posted via Activerain.com 10/2/2011