Leave a Message

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 your agent will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

main

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.

main

Step 2: Decide on Your Budget

Notice I 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.

main

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.

main

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 an agent like me to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will I help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but I also have a knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where my expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let me show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

My goal is to provide you with the most personalized service that is designed to help you buy your dream home

Schedule a Consultation
main

Step 5: Find the Right Home

This should be the most enjoyable step of the entire process (other than moving in!). I 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.

main

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. I 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.

main

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. I 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.

main

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.

main

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.

main

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.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Mashonda was professional, knowledgeable, responsive, and a joy to work with. She took the stress out of the home-buying process. We highly recommend her!

— Barbara T.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

I have worked with Mashonda as both a buyer and a seller. She is amazing at both. She listened to what we wanted and delivered. I will never use another realtor.

— Davisha J.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

My husband and I have been Mashonda's clients for over a year searching for a home. It has been a frustrating process and we have so appreciated Mashonda's patience, knowledge, and continued support. A lesser agent would've bailed on us long ago. Our search continues, but we know who our forever agent is!

— Jenna L.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Our home search and buying experience was great working with Mashonda. She is very knowledgeable about all things involved in the process of looking for and purchasing a home. She is very professional yet friendly and easy to talk to. I was truly dreading this whole thing but she definitely made it a good experience.

— Tammy R.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Mashonda makes every single step of buying a home easy. She takes care of every little detail and makes herself readily available whenever you need. She knew exactly what I wanted and genuinely wanted to make sure I was happy with my purchase. I felt so comfortable asking questions and talking to her about my concerns which is so important. I would recommend her to anyone buying or selling.

— Shannon V.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Mashonda Smith is more than a realtor. She is a professional who looks to guide you in your pursuit to reach your real estate goals. While Mashonda listens to your needs and wants, she precisely finds you options to explore so you can commit comfortably to your decision. There will be no time wasted. If you’re ready to work with a professional who will make you feel like you’re her only client then it’s ...

— Lisa N.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

It was indeed a pleasure working with Mashonda! Our family appreciated her hard work and dedication to get the best deal for us. We had concerns about the market, but she was confident that we would be under contract in less than 3 weeks! She gave us all of the tools we needed to go from sale to sale within that time frame! When you have someone on your team who loves what they do, it shows in the result...

— Ann Marie B.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Mashonda has been our real estate professional for about 1 year and has sold a few of our properties in the St. Petersburg area. First of all, she was very thorough in evaluating our properties, coming up with quite relevant and also cost-effective ideas to improve the property. Mashonda is very knowledgeable about the local market to price them appropriately. More importantly, she has an excellent, frie...

— Seller

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Mashonda Smith has been an amazing realtor to me on two occasions- the purchase and sale of my home in Florida. She is extremely professional and my experience in buying a home was effortless. She also recently helped me sell that same home- I had a lot of issues in selling my home due to an incompetent buyer group and Mashonda Smith made sure to be on top of it and help the process along. She pushed the...

— Ray R.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

I have worked with Mashonda on a couple of house purchases. Most recently I engaged her at the beginning of this year to purchase a home that closed recently. She has always been forthcoming, informative, professional, and supportive. She tells me the truth and I trust her. She goes above and beyond every time. During this last purchase, a few things came up before closing related to inspections/appraisa...

— Simone A.

View All

Home

About

Let's Connect

Work With Mashonda

Mashonda specializes in residential homes, waterfront, downtown St. Petersburg, and the surrounding Tampa Bay area communities. Working across all price ranges and property types, she is committed to working relentlessly on her client's behalf to help them achieve their goals while always doing right by them.

Let's Connect
GET IN TOUCH
CONTACT DETAILS

MASHONDA SMITH

(727) 418-4662

[email protected]



200 CENTRAL AVE SUITE 111
ST. PETERSBURG FL 33701