The Step-By-Step Guide to Financing Your First Home

You’ve decided to move on from renting. Congrats, it’s time to buy your first home! You’re excited, a little nervous, and completely overwhelmed. But that’s OK. With the right builder and a solid plan, financing and building your first home can be as easy as one, two… key.

First, you need to find the right home. We’ve designed our Gateway communities with you in mind. But these aren’t your typical “starter homes” and communities.  They’re built to Live Up to a wide range of homebuyers’ needs, with features including contemporary floor plans, prime locations throughout Richmond, and design packages that allow for personalization – all at a great value. These communities include:

• Stone Ridge: From the $210s.
• Townes at Stonewall Manor: From the $190s.
• New Market Village Towns: From the $190s.

Now it’s time to talk about financing, which we’ve worked hard to streamline and simplify in a step-by-step guide. While this information is a great start, also know that we didn’t squeeze in every little detail (Stay tuned for the complete Live Up Building Experience!) 

1. Saddle up with our sales consultant.

Think of your StyleCraft Sales Consultant as your friendly co-pilot on your home-buying journey — the one who assures smooth sailing no matter the challenge. Discuss your new home must-haves now, and save your less critical design preferences for our design team further down the process.

2. Build your home!

Well, we’ll build your home on paper, that is. This includes choosing a floor plan, selecting structural options like the number of bathrooms & bedrooms, and deciding which design package fits your style. Once all these choices are made, we can hone in on a price.

3. Get pre-approved!

Most of our homeowners choose to finance their home through a vendor. And a whopping 95% of our homeowners select our highly vetted and trusted preferred lenders. Because of the relationship we’ve built together, we’re able to streamline what can otherwise be a complicated process in order to speed everything along. This starts with pre-approving you for the maximum amount you’re able to borrow, i.e. finance, based on factors including your credit score and household income. This amount is referred to as your pre-approval letter. As long as your pre-approval letter and any additional money you’re able to contribute out of pocket add up to the home price you’re seeking, you’re good to go! So take a minute… and celebrate! With this letter in hand, you’re well on your way… (Learn more about how this all works in our finance guide.)

4. Sign your autograph & make it official.

Complete and sign your loan agreement. Be sure to bring your pre-approval letter when you meet with your StyleCraft Sales Consultant. Upon receiving your formal loan commitment (within 5 day of contract), Tweet to your followers about how you’re going to #LiveUp in your new dream home — and invite them to the closing party!

5. Don’t buy a boat.

Or a new car, bedroom set, or Caribbean vacation. In other words, be frugal. Be cheap. The time leading up to your closing is a critical time to avoid big purchases in order to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible. Remember: changes in your income status can affect your loan pre-approval amount.

6. Closing time.

When you think of “closing time”, it’s usually time to go home. And we guarantee your first trip home after closing as a StyleCraft homeowner will be your best one yet. Closing refers to the final approval of your home purchase. As part of the StyleCraft Live Up Building Experience, your new home comes with several unique features:

• 1-year whole-house warranty
• In-house warranty service — our “Fix-It” Fleet is here to help, should anything go wrong.
• 10-year structural warranty

Take a breath. It may seem like a lot, but our team is here to help you navigate through your first home buying experience. To learn more about why StyleCraft’s Gateway communities are an ideal fit for first-time homeowners, contact us at 804.523.HOME.