First-time homebuyer checklist

Before you fall in love with listings, know what you can actually carry each month — and what cash you can put on the table without emptying every reserve.

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  Pull your credit and fix obvious issues

  Request your credit reports and score band so a lender conversation starts with facts, not guesses. Small errors (wrong balances, outdated accounts) are easier to dispute before you are racing a contract deadline. Know your monthly debts: student loans, car payments, and revolving credit all show up in debt-to-income math.

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  Separate emergency savings from house money

  First-time buyers often count every dollar in one pile. Keep a cushion for life after closing — moving, repairs, a job blip — separate from the money you plan to bring to the table. If the only way the deal works is draining every reserve, pause and recalculate.

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  Sketch a monthly payment range, not a single fantasy number

  Principal and interest are only part of the payment — often grouped with taxes and insurance as PITI (principal, interest, taxes, and insurance). Flood insurance and mortgage insurance (when required) can add more — and utilities (electric, water, trash, internet) are part of month-to-month running cost even though they are usually not escrowed (held by your lender for taxes and insurance) with the mortgage. Section 3’s sample walkthrough shows how the monthly running cost sits under the closing check — use a range until you have real quotes, then tighten it.

Pre-qualification is a soft conversation. Pre-approval is a lender who has actually reviewed documents. In a competitive market, timing and credibility matter.

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  Gather income, asset, and ID documents early

  Pay stubs, W-2s or tax returns, bank statements, and photo ID are the usual starting set. Having them ready shortens the gap between “interested” and “letter in hand.” Ask the lender what else they need for your situation (self-employment, gifts, or recent job changes often add steps).

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  Treat the pre-approval letter as a planning tool

  A pre-approval is not a guarantee. Appraisal, underwriting, insurance, and title can still move the goalposts. Still, shopping with a documented range beats touring on hope. Reconfirm the letter if rates or your finances change before you write offers.

The money you save for a down payment is only one line. Scan the sample below top to bottom: purchase price → down payment → closing extras → the big check at closing → then the normal monthly running cost.

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  See the full money picture before you write offers

  Cash-to-close (the money you bring to the signing table) usually includes down payment, lender and title fees, prepaid items (such as insurance and property taxes), and money your lender may collect in advance for escrow. After closing, the month-to-month housing stack is principal and interest plus property taxes, homeowners insurance, flood if needed, and a maintenance reserve — about $3,138 in the labeled sample below, aligned with the thirty-year essay. Homeowners association (HOA) dues apply only if the community charges them ($0 in this sample). Utilities (electric, water, trash, internet) are usually paid separately and are shown under the housing total so both this checklist and the essay can leave them out of the comparable rent-vs-own figure. The walkthrough is illustrative only — not a quote. A worksheet from your lender or settlement professional that lists your real lines is far better than guessing from a down-payment goal alone.

  Sample walkthrough

  Purchase → closing check → monthly running cost

  Illustrative · not a quote

  1. 1

     Top of the picture

     Purchase price / offer

     $400,000

     The number on the contract — before down payment, fees, or insurance.
  2. 2

     Down payment

     $20,000sample 5% of $400,000

     Portion of the price you do not borrow. Still only one line of cash-to-close.
  3. 3

     Closing costs & cash-to-close extras

     ~$12,000

     • ·Lender, title, recording, and related fees
     • ·Prepaids (insurance & taxes paid up front)
     • ·Escrow deposits (taxes/insurance reserves your lender may collect at closing)
     • NoteBuyer's agent / broker commission is often not a separate line the buyer pays at closing in many U.S. deals — traditionally the seller side pays brokerage from sale proceeds. That does not mean it is "free": commission can be reflected in the list or sale price the buyer effectively funds through the purchase price. Compensation can be negotiated; practices vary. Often a few percent of price in total, split among brokers — confirm in your contract and disclosures. Educational only, not brokerage advice.
     • FLDocumentary stamp tax on the deed is generally $0.70 per $100 of price — about $2,800 on this $400,000 sample (who pays is often negotiated; the tax itself is not optional).
  4. 4

     At closing

     What you write the big check for

     ~$32,000

     Down payment ($20,000) + closing extras (~$12,000) ≈ cash-to-close in this sample — not the down payment alone.

     DownExtras
  5. 5

     After you move in

     Normal month-to-month running cost

     Housing stack (principal and interest + property taxes + homeowners insurance + flood + maintenance) matches the thirty-year essay's ~$3,138 own-running sample. Utilities are listed separately below — the essay leaves them out on both rent and own. HOA dues only if the community charges them — $0 in this aligned sample. Amounts are illustrative, not a quote.

     • Principal and interest$2,118

       Shared sample loan ~$320k @ ~6.95% / 30-yr — matches the essay (not the 5% cash-to-close loan size)

     • Property taxes$350

       Escrow estimate (held by lender)

     • Homeowners insurance$350

       Annual premium ÷ 12 · aligned with essay

     • Flood (if needed)$120

       Mid example · aligned with essay

     • Maintenance reserve$200

       Sample reserve — not escrowed; same line as the essay own stack

     Sample housing total (essay-aligned)$3,138

     Utilities (sample, separate)$280

     Electric, water, trash, internet — not inside the $3,138 housing total

     Housing + utilities together ≈ $3,418 in this walkthrough — only the housing total is meant to match the essay.

     Cash-to-close above still uses a 5% ($20,000) first-time-buyer down sample. Monthly principal and interest uses the shared $320k sample loan so the stack agrees with the essay; a true 5%-down loan on this price would be larger and may include mortgage insurance. Your quotes, ZIP, flood zone, tax bill, HOA, and utilities will differ — re-check the week you write offers.

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  Ask what is missing on any worksheet you receive

  If stamps, insurance, taxes, or escrow are blank or “TBD,” ask why. A worksheet is not a final Closing Disclosure, but it should be complete enough that a surprise fee does not appear for the first time at the signing table.

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  Understand how buyer’s agent / broker pay usually works

  In many U.S. deals, the buyer’s agent or broker commission is not a separate line the buyer pays at closing — traditionally the seller side pays brokerage from sale proceeds. That does not mean it is “free”: commission can be reflected in the list or sale price the buyer effectively funds through the purchase price. Compensation can be negotiated; practices vary. Often a few percent of price in total, split among brokers — confirm in your contract and disclosures. Educational only, not brokerage advice.

In many markets — especially coastal ones — insurance can reshape both cash-to-close and the monthly payment as much as the mortgage rate.

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  Homeowners and flood are usually separate

  A standard homeowners policy typically does not cover flood. Flood coverage is often through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or a private policy, driven by flood-zone determination — not by how dry the listing photos look.

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  Use a calm order of operations

  Pick a few target ZIPs, check flood risk, collect homeowners insurance (HOI) — and flood, if needed — quotes, then tour seriously. Falling in love with a house first is how budgets break when the lender later requires proof of coverage and prepaid premiums.

National stories about “the housing market” rarely match the street you are shopping. Inventory, list-versus-sale dynamics, and days on market (DOM) change how much time and competition you face.

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  Match geography and property type before you trust a number

  Metro medians, city medians, and ZIP medians are different animals. Single-family and condo figures often diverge. When someone quotes a price, ask: same place, same home type, same as-of date?

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  Watch our Local market desk for live figures

  List-versus-sale, inventory, and days on market (DOM) will live on the Local market desk when cited prints are ready. Until then, those figures are marked Coming soon — we will not invent dollars to fill the gap.

Some costs and programs are national in spirit; others are state or city specific. Read the local lines early so they do not arrive as a last-minute shock.

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  Confirm who pays which closing costs in the contract

  Customs vary by market. Title premiums, recording fees, and transfer taxes (where they exist) may be assigned to buyer or seller in negotiation. Custom is a starting point, not a guarantee — get it in writing.

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  Look up assistance programs before you are under contract

  Down-payment or mortgage-assistance programs often require counseling, income documentation, and a reservation before you go under contract. Social-media summaries go stale — read the official page.

An offer is easier when money, insurance, and timeline are already aligned — not when you are discovering them under a clock.

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  Re-check rate quotes, insurance, and cash-to-close the same week

  Rates move. Insurance quotes expire. Asset balances change. A quick refresh the week you write offers beats discovering a gap after acceptance. Keep Fed-week headlines in perspective: policy news can shift sentiment, but your payment still depends on the quote you lock.

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  Know your walk-away lines

  Decide in advance what payment, cash-to-close, and insurance premium would make you walk away. Writing that down when you are calm is easier than inventing it under pressure from a bidding timeline.