2024 First-Time Home Buyer Guide

As a first-time home buyer, you need access to objective, reliable, and timely information covering all stages of the home buying process. And that's exactly what this handbook delivers.

Some of What You'll Find Inside

This 65-page e-book simplifies the first-time home buying process by breaking it down into a series of 10 steps, organized into chapters. Here's what you'll find inside:

1. Budgeting and Other Preparations
2. Choosing a Type of Mortgage Loan
3. Making a Down Payment
4. Understanding Mortgage Insurance
5. Choosing a Real Estate Agent
6. Shopping for a Home / House Hunting
7. Making an Offer and Negotiating
8. Dealing With Inspections and Appraisals
9. Securing Your Final Loan Approval
10. Closing the Deal and Getting Your Keys

In short, this guide gives you the information you need to navigate the real estate market, choose the best type of financing, and keep the deal on track until you get your keys!

From a Trusted Name in Consumer Education

This guide was created by the experts at the Home Buying Institute (HBI). For nearly 20 years, HBI has been educating home buyers and mortgage shoppers on what it takes to succeed in the real estate world.

Since our founding in 2006, HBI has become one of the most trusted names in home buyer education. We pride ourselves on delivering accurate, useful, and objective information -- which is exactly what you need when buying your first home.

We are not real estate agents or mortgage brokers. Our charter and business model involves providing unbiased and objective information to home buyers, to help them succeed.

The Most Current & Accurate Home Buying Guide

Real estate conditions and home buying procedures are constantly changing. As a result, traditionally published buying guides (paperbacks) are often outdated by the time they reach bookstores.

Example: Many home buying books still talk about real estate agents splitting a 6% commission. But a recent lawsuit involving the National Association of Realtors is changing all of that.

Our guide, on the other hand, delivers the most current and accurate information you'll find anywhere. We update the First-Time Home Buyer Handbook once per quarter to ensure that it stays relevant.