(lively music) - I am Rachel Hedeen, and I'm a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Burnet.

Coming pre-approved before you start searching for a home, is very important.

This not only gives you a better idea of how much you can afford.

In this market, you can put an offer in right away.

If you go see a home and you have to wait to get that pre-approval letter to put in an offer, you might not be able to get the house because someone else might snatch it before you can.

It's important to work with a real estate agent because they know your local market better than anyone.

Buying a first home can be tough.

It can be very stressful, and an agent is there to take all that stress away, and to explain everything to you step-by-step.

The one thing a lot of new home buyers wonder is, how much is an agent going to cost me?

And because they don't know, they think that they don't want an agent, or they don't want to find an agent.

But in reality, being a buyer, an agent costs you nothing.

New home buyers should think about closing costs because those are costs that come in addition to the actual cost of the home.

You're going to have local taxes, federal taxes.

The title company will have some fees.

You're going to have to get title insurance in some cases.

Depending on your mortgage lenders, you'll have fees for them too.

So always remember, in addition to the cost of your actual house, there will be other things that you're going to have to pay for.

Earnest money is the money that you pay upfront when you put an offer in on a house, and it gets accepted.

Earnest money shows how serious you are as a buyer.

The more earnest money you can give, the more serious it looks to the seller.

When you pay earnest money upfront, it's actually held by the listing brokerage until closing.

And it goes towards your down payment.

It's important to purchase a home warranty when you buy your first home just in case anything happens right after closing.

If you wind up with your furnace breaking after closing, you may have to pay a lot of money.

And having a home warranty will actually cover that for you at a much, much lower cost per year.

So it's good to have a home warranty.

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