Are you buying a home for the first time in Albuquerque? Whether it’s your first time or not, buying a home takes a lot of effort. Here are a few tips that can help the process go more smoothly.

Research Early
Start researching websites and local real estate listings in paper journals. Make a note of the listings that interest you and how long they’re on the market, along with any changes in asking prices. This will give you a more accurate indicator of your local market trends. You can also sign up for email listing alerts that give you real time updates of new homes as they hit the market.

Budget
Do you know how much can you really afford? That’s an important question. Lenders recommended that you keep the cost of your home to less than 5 times your annual income, as long as you’re making a 20% down payment and have moderate debt. Here’s a handy affordability calculator that can help.

Get Prequalified and Pre-approved
You also need to know how much you can spend on the home before you start looking for one. Work with your lender to determine how much you can afford. This is called prequalifying and is done by providing simple information such as income and how much you have in savings. Later you can get pre-approved for credit, which involves providing more documents like W-2s and bank account statements so that a lender can verify your credit.

This is just a start. But if you follow these tips it will get you on your way to buying the home in Albuquerque that best fits your needs.