Leave a Message

By providing Mackenzie Horne your contact information, you acknowledge and agree to our Privacy Policy and consent to receiving marketing communications, including through automated calls, texts, and emails, some of which may use artificial or prerecorded voices. This consent isn’t necessary for purchasing any products or services and you may opt out at any time. To opt out from texts, you can reply, ‘stop’ at any time. To opt out from emails, you can click on the unsubscribe link in the emails. Message and data rates may apply.

Thank you for your message. We will be in touch with you shortly.

Buyer's Guide

A Step-by-Step First Time Buyer's Guide

Buying a home is one of the most exciting milestones of your life. To prepare yourself for this moment, you need to know what to expect during the process. This step-by-step first time buyer’s guide created by our team will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

Step 1: Research

Do you already know where you want to buy? If you want a condo, townhome, or single-family home? Which features do you like and dislike? What’s available on the market now? If you answered no to any of these questions, now is the time to start researching. In addition to looking for homes that interest you, also take note of any changes in asking prices. This could give you valuable insight into housing trends in specific neighborhoods and help you when the time comes to make an offer.

Step 2: Decide on Your Budget

Notice we said to decide on your budget—not determine how much the mortgage company will give you. In many cases, a mortgage company will pre-approve you for more than you’re comfortable spending, which is why you need to determine the monthly payment you feel comfortable with before talking to a lender. This likely includes doing a full household budget and taking into consideration what changes other than a mortgage payment will occur once you move into your new home. If you’ve lived in an apartment or with roommates, you may overlook new expenses like garbage, water, or HOA fees that could easily blow your budget.

Step 3: Get Prequalified

Just because you think you can afford a certain payment every month doesn’t mean the mortgage company will agree. Just as they may approve you for too large of an amount, they may also approve you for a lesser amount or deny you a mortgage altogether. Lack of time at a job, insufficient credit, past bankruptcies, or other financial issues can cause major problems when trying to secure a mortgage. Before you get your heart set on a home, talk to a mortgage professional to find out what amount you can qualify for. This will also be an advantage when you make an offer on a home, as some sellers won’t entertain offers from those who aren’t already prequalified for a loan.

Step 4: Choose a Real Estate Agent

Can you shop for, look at, and ultimately make an offer on a home without a real estate agent? Technically yes, but why would you when it costs you nothing for agents like us to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will we help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but we also have knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where our expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let us show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

Passion & Expertise

Our goal is to provide you with the most personalized service possible, meticulously designed to help you navigate the process of buying your dream home. We are dedicated to understanding your unique needs and preferences, ensuring that every step of the journey is tailored to achieve your ultimate home-buying aspirations.

Schedule A Consultation

Step 5: Find the Right Home

This should be the most enjoyable step of the entire process (other than moving in!). We will arrange showings of homes you’re interested in that are within your price range. Take notes about what you like and don’t like, and make sure to pay attention to details. Turn light switches on and off, open and close doors, and run the faucets in various rooms. Don’t limit your inspection to the home itself. Make sure to take time to explore the neighborhood and keep an eye on traffic at certain times of the day, the parking situation, and how close it is to necessities like schools and grocery stores.

Step 6: Make an Offer

Once you have selected the perfect home, work with your agent to craft a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes on the market. Depending on what the home is listed at and whether the current environment is a buyer’s or seller’s market, your offer may be below, at, or even above the asking price. We will be able to help you negotiate if you receive a counteroffer and reach an agreement. At this point, the house will go into escrow.

Step 7: Have the Home Inspected

In most cases, your offer will be contingent on having the home inspected to ensure there is no major structural damage or large repairs needed. We can help you arrange this, and you can schedule it within days of making an offer. If there are no major issues, the process goes to step eight. If there is, you can renegotiate your offer based on what needs to be fixed, or you can withdraw it.

Step 8: Select Your Loan

Now is the time to go back to the mortgage lender who pre-approved or pre-qualified you and choose your mortgage. You will be presented with various options based on your unique financial situation, including fixed-rate, variable-rate, 15-year, 30-year, or special programs such as VA loans or FHA loans. Work with your mortgage lender to select the option you feel the most comfortable with.

Step 9: Get a Home Appraisal

Your lender will have your new home appraised so they have their independent value of it. The appraisal is to ensure that all parties involved are paying a fair price for the house.

Step 10: Finish Paperwork

No one looks forward to all the paperwork involved in buying a home, but it’s a necessary part of the process. Fortunately, everything will be arranged by your lender and title company and, when you’re finished, you’ll know you are the legal owner of your new home.

Congratulations!

After signing the final paperwork to complete the purchase, you are now the owner of a new house. It may take a few days for your loan to be funded once the paperwork has been returned to the lender, but once that check is delivered to the seller, you’ll be all set to move into the home of your dreams.

Testimonials

Nancy M.

We worked with Mackenzie Horne. She was outstanding and gave us a “beyond 5 stars” level of service. She totally maximized the amount we could get from our home. When we first met, she came to our house with a detailed project ...

Colby G.

Absolute world-class. Mackenzie was there for everything. Proactive in helping us find houses to meet our needs, several in-progress reviews as we narrowed our search to only the best homes. Mackenzie took the time to deeply un...

Marion F.

I cannot speak highly enough of Mackenzie Horne. I would strongly recommend her to anyone looking to buy a home, especially first-time home buyers like myself. Mackenzie was incredibly patient with me, taking the time to walk m...

Lauren L.

Mackenzie was an amazing partner during our home search, which took over a year. Mackenzie was with us every step of the way. She was engaged throughout and did her best to make sure we felt comfortable and satisfied.

Shelby L.

If you are looking for a realtor, you cannot find a better agent than Mackenzie. Mackenzie is a thorough, committed, caring partner in the home-buying process and she truly does everything she can for her clients. She patiently...

Brittany H.

Mackenzie is an absolute joy to work with! She is incredibly attentive and enthusiastic. As first time homebuyers, we were nervous when we began looking at properties. Mackenzie guided us through the process with ease. She quic...

Tim & Maddy

It was so important to us as first-time homebuyers to find someone who would be patient with the millions of questions we had, candid in their answers and unrelenting in their support to help us find our dream home. Mackenzie d...

Taylor M.

Mackenzie is simply the best. She took an incredibly stressful experience and made it feel like a breeze. We especially appreciated her communicativeness and friendliness. She translated and broke down the more confusing parts ...

Adam A.

Mackenzie worked with us diligently and professionally for 3 months. She was patient, knowledgeable, and accommodating. Great experience with her service. Mackenzie took care of all queries regardless of the time of day and was...

Melissa H.

Mackenzie was the perfect partner for us to help find our first home, navigate the contract process, and set up a smooth settlement. She was always available to answer our questions, explain the next steps, and never pressured ...

Alison C.

Mackenzie is an exceptional real estate agent because she is a person who truly cares about you as a client. She handled both the sale of my existing home and purchasing of my new home. Her attention to detail for both transact...

Claire H.

Mackenzie is exceptional. Extremely hard-working, knowledgeable, pulls out all the stops to get her clients' homes the greatest amount of visibility. Looking forward to working with her again on two additional properties we hav...

Genevieve M.

Mackenzie Horne was our realtor for the purchase of our home and I cannot speak highly enough of her. We met Mackenzie by chance at a showing, and she was immediately kind and thoughtful. She was always responsive, an excellent...

Helen N.

Extremely high - Mackenzie went above and beyond to help us beat out 11 other buyers to get the home we wanted. Mackenzie left no stones unturned to make sure that our offer was competitive and helped us navigate escalations. W...

Helen G.

We partnered with Mackenzie Horne to purchase our home and had an incredible experience. She worked very hard to ensure that our offer was competitive and that we were comfortable with each detail of the approach. We are so gra...

Terence M.

Mackenzie was very professional. We felt that she had our best interests at heart and we never felt pressured to act throughout the process. I think she was very patient with us and very responsive to our needs. She provided a ...

Jennifer C.

Mackenzie went over and above on every aspect of preparing my house for sale. From making recommendations on improvements, to physically replacing light fixtures herself, to strategically walking us through timing and listing p...

Diana R.

Attentive and knowledgeable. Kept in mind everything that was important to us and our time contraints.

C. Norris

We switched to Mackenzie as our agent after a rough start on the market, and she hit it out of the park! She was extremely responsive, creative, offered real solutions, and went above and beyond the call of duty to sell our hou...

Grace & Patrick

Mackenzie is so wonderful! She is the most professional, responsive, organized, detail-oriented, and kind agent we've ever met! We love how she always thinks for us and puts our interest first in our house purchase. She took th...

Benjamin K.

Mackenzie Horne was a fantastic real estate agent who was an incredible advocate throughout the process. She went above and beyond in every way throughout the entire process. We can not explain how much we appreciated her tenac...

Hannah

Mackenzie was an absolute joy to worth with! She was so well prepared, knowledgeable, and responsive. She did a great job helping us find houses that met our needs and desires and dropped everything to make sure that we were on...

Andrew H.

Mackenzie is extremely trustworthy, reliable, informed, and cares deeply about her clients. Mackenzie made the home buying experience extremely smooth. She was focused on our interest and getting us the right home. She went out...

Yi C.

Mackenzie helped me with my first-time home purchase in the midst of COVID, and it was a great pleasure to work with her! She was helpful and supportive all the way through and was highly enthusiastic and organized. Mackenzie w...

Karen M.

My husband and I hired Mackenzie to sell our Arlington house in preparation for our retirement. We were so busy finishing up work, finding a rental in Florida, arranging the move, and trying to stay healthy in the midst of the ...

Portfolio

Seller's Guide

Home Search

Work With Us

We bring over a decade of consulting and real estate expertise to help clients confidently navigate the buying and selling process. Known for our strong negotiation skills, meticulous attention to detail, and genuine passion, we are here to make your real estate journey seamless.