The Ultimate Guide to Owning Your First Home

The prospect of purchasing your own home for the first time can sometimes feel overwhelming right out of the gate. At McGuinn Hybrid Homes, we’ve worked with countless homeowners throughout the Columbia, South Carolina region—and with over 35 years of experience at our fingertips, we’ve put together a complete guide to ensure that your first time home buying experience is a success. 

Understand your financing

Buying a home is a huge investment, and because of this, you need to take the time to grow your savings before you start your search to find the perfect floor plan. By understanding your financial situation, you’ll have a clearer picture of what you can and can’t afford. With the down payment, closing costs and move-in expenses on the horizon—it’s never too early to start saving. 

There are some great online calculators you can use to get a close estimate of what you could afford, but speaking with a mortgage lending professional is always a great way to give you a better understanding of your financial situation.

Secure your loan

Whether you work with our preferred lender or have your own lender you plan on working with, there are a number of items you will need to have ready for your first meeting to get pre-approved for a loan. 

1. Identification: You’ll need to bring some form of identification when you meet with your lender like a driver’s license. 
2. Proof of income: Your lender will need you to provide W-2 statements and tax returns from the past two years, pay stubs showing your income, year-to-date income and proof of any additional income such as work bonuses. 
3. Proof of employment: You’ll also need to provide proof of employment over the past two years. If at any point in that time frame you switched companies, your lender will need to verify the details with your previous employer. 
4. Proof of assets: Your lender will need to have proof of the assets you plan on using toward your closing costs and down payment—including any current bank statements or investment account statements.
5. Credit Score: Your lender will need your social security number in order to pull your credit score before you can get pre-approved for a loan. This will enable them to see your ability to pay off your debt and will play a part in determining which loans you will be able to be approved for, how much your down payment can be and what your interest rate will look like on your mortgage payments. 

Once you are pre-approved, our financial specialists will be able to provide a few different loan options for you and will work with you to determine which one would best fit your needs. 

The purchasing process

Purchasing your first home is an exciting time in your life—especially when you purchase a new construction home. When you work with our team at McGuinn Hybrid Homes, you’ll meet with your construction supervisor to go over the build schedule and have any questions answered right away. You’ll receive updates from our team to continuously keep you in the loop, and when construction is complete—we’ll walk you through your new home to ensure you fully understand how every system works before we hand over the keys. 

Chose McGuinn Hybrid Homes

The process of buying a home for the first time shouldn’t be stressful—and our team will be there with you every step of the way to ensure that all of your questions are being answered right away. If you’re ready to start the journey to your new construction home in one of our incredible communities, give us a call at (803) 917-5583 or fill out our online form today.