You will need to get a mortgage unless you are paying cash for a house. To know how much home you can afford, you need to get pre-approved for a loan. This is the first step in the home buying process.

The timeline for finding a house varies greatly from person to person. However, once you find a home and have an accepted offer, it usually takes around 90 days to close.

In most cases, you do not have to pay your Realtor anything to help you purchase a home. Instead, the sellers typically pay their Realtor a fee, and then that listing agent pays the buyer’s Realtor for bringing the buyer and facilitating the transaction.

A 620 credit score, or higher, is recommended. This score will be compared with your debt-to-income ratio. As you are probably aware, a higher credit score offers better lending terms. However, this is an ever-evolving topic as loan requirements are constantly changing.

Some lenders will approve buyers with a 580 score, sometimes even lower. Again, your loan officer will be the best source to give you a current answer for today’s lending requirements.