Note · real estate

Before you look at a single house: the cash number

The savings target is not the down payment. It is down payment, plus closing costs, plus the roughly $700 you spend on an inspection and appraisal before you own anything, plus reserves the lender does not count.

• Down payment: most first-time buyers do not need 20%. The NAR 2025 profile puts the first-time median at 10% down. Conventional first-time programs (Fannie Mae HomeReady, Freddie Mac Home Possible) go to 3% with mortgage insurance; FHA goes to 3.5% with a 580+ credit score; VA and USDA go to 0% for eligible buyers. Under 20% you pay mortgage insurance — often $100–300/month — until you reach roughly 20% equity.
• Closing costs: 2–5% of the purchase price (CFPB range), on top of the down payment. On a $350,000 home that is $7,000–$17,500.
• Reserves: three to six months of expenses after closing. If closing empties the account, the first repair is a credit-card spiral.

Get a real pre-approval — documents reviewed, not a soft "you qualify" — before making an offer. Sellers and agents treat a pre-approval letter as the difference between a buyer and a looker.

The offer: the three contingencies are the product

Earnest money (typically 1–3% of price) goes into escrow when the offer is accepted and is credited back at closing — it is a timing issue, not an extra cost, unless you walk for a reason your contingencies do not cover.

The contingencies written into the offer are what protect that money: inspection, appraisal, and financing. Waiving the inspection to win a bidding war is the most expensive sentence in a first contract. The seller who pushes hardest against an inspection is often the seller who knows something is wrong.

The clocks start the day the contract is signed — not the day you remember

Every deadline below starts from the contract's effective date. In the first 72 hours after acceptance: send the executed contract to your lender, book the inspector, get 2–3 homeowners insurance quotes, and put every contingency date on one calendar. Underwriting cannot start until the lender has the signed contract.

• Inspection contingency: typically 7–10 days, sometimes compressed to 5 in hot markets. Schedule the inspection in the first half of the window so you have days left to negotiate repairs or a credit — or to walk. If the deadline passes and you have not objected in writing, you have waived the right to exit over findings.
• Appraisal: lender-ordered, usually within days. The lender lends on the lower of price or appraised value. If the house appraises $15,000 under your offer, you have three options: bring the $15,000 in cash, renegotiate the price, or walk — which is why the appraisal contingency exists.
• Financing contingency: typically 21–30 days, covering underwriting. If the lender denies you or adds conditions you cannot meet, this is what lets you exit and keep your earnest money.
• Rate lock: confirm the lock window covers your expected closing date. A lock that expires mid-process means paying for an extension or taking whatever the market rate is on that day.

The quiet killer: your own finances between acceptance and closing

More first-time loans die here than at any single step. Between contract and funding, do not open new credit, do not finance a car or furniture, do not change jobs, do not make large or unexplained deposits. Underwriters re-verify your financial picture in the final days — a new credit line or a shifted-down-payment story can kill the loan the week before closing. The house is not yours until the check clears; act like it.

The final two weeks

• Closing Disclosure: the lender must give it to you at least three business days before closing. Compare every line to the Loan Estimate you got at application; if fees moved, ask why. This is the last moment to catch a mistake.
• Final walkthrough: confirm the house is in the agreed condition, repairs are done, and nothing was removed that should not have been.
• Wire fraud: closing funds move by wire or cashier's check. If an email arrives changing wiring instructions — even one that looks like it is from your title company — call the number on file, not the number in the email. Real estate email compromises are a top source of six-figure scams.

The one-sentence version

Do the cash math first, get a documents-reviewed pre-approval, never waive the inspection, treat every contingency deadline as a hard date from the moment the contract is signed, and do not touch your finances between acceptance and funding.

Buying a first home is a sequence with hard deadlines, not a checklist you can do in any order. Run it in this order and the process feels boring — which is exactly what a good closing should feel like.

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