When it is time to buy a house, there are many different actions that you should take. The first thing that you should do is ensuring that you are financially able to afford a home. You can do this by pre-qualifying through a lender. The lender is going to look at your financial health, and will let you know what size of loan that you are going to qualify for. You should also talk with a real estate agent, and see how the market is doing in general.

Most people will consider a house a good investment over time because they are going to be building equity. There are those that think a real estate agent is not a vital part of the process, but there are many different aspects of buying a house that a real estate agent can help you with. Here are a few other reasons it is a good idea to talk to a real estate agent. 

Listings

One of the biggest things that a real estate agent will do for you is show you all listings that meet your criteria. If you are only looking for a three bedroom house with at least ten acres, the real estate agent will be able to show you all the listings in your area that meet that criteria. There are some websites that can have most of the listings, but the real estate agent will have access to ll of them. What is better is that the real estate agent will be able to give you access to those homes, and show the home to you.You will not know if you like a home until you actually look at it and get a feel for it. 

Paperwork

As you might expect there is a lot of paperwork involved in buying a home. One of the first steps is putting an offer in on the house. When you put an offer in on a house, there is going to be a purchase agreement that needs to be filled out, and without the help of a realtor, you may simply be lost. 

Home History

You may want to know the history of the home, and the realtor will be able to provide this for you as well. The real estate agent will be able to tell you exactly what your home sold at and when. This is important information especially if you plan to sell the home within the first few years.