Step 1: Knowing if you are buying a property(house) with full cash or with a loan
Most people would like to get a loan rather than spending most of their cash to buy a property because they may earn more money from their investment than their mortgage.

Step 2: Determine How Much House You Can Afford
Before you start looking for a home, you will need to know how much you can actually spend. The best way to do that is to get prequalified for a mortgage. To get prequalified, you just need to provide some financial information to your mortgage banker, such as your income and the amount of savings and investments you have. Your lender will review this information and tell you how much we can lend you. This will tell you the price range of the homes you should be looking at. Later, you can get preapproved for credit, which involves providing your financial documents (W-2 statements, paycheck stubs, bank account statements, etc.) so your lender can verify your financial status and credit.
(Your Credit Score will determine which rate you are going to get. Credit Score of 740 or higher get the best rate from the lender/bank)

Step 3: Find a real estate agent and tell him/her your criteria
Real estate agents are important partners when you are buying a property(house). Real estate agents can provide you with helpful information on homes and neighborhoods that is not easily accessible to the public. Their knowledge of the home buying process, negotiating skills, and familiarity with the area you want to live in can be extremely valuable. And best of all, it does not cost you anything to use an agent ¨C they are compensated from the commission paid by the seller of the house.
Tell your real estate agent which area you would like to look for a property(house). Let him/her know what type of property you are looking for (Property type: Single House, Townhouse, Condo town house or condo appartment), how much square foot, how many bedrooms/bathrooms, how many levels, etc.

Step 4: Viewing properties with your agent or go to some Open House
Start touring properties in your price range. Once you are viewing the properties in reality, you will know better what you are really looking for. Base on my experience, most people will change their criteria after viewing some properties.(change to look for a bigger property or higher price property, expend to more location, and so on). Checking out properties with real estate agent, will let the agent have more idea what you are really looking for because your emotion will tell what you like and what you don't like. It might be helpful to take notes on all the properties you visit. You will see a lot of houses! It can be hard to remember everything about them, so you might want to take pictures or video to help you remember each home.

Step 5: Get Prequalified and Preapproved for your loan officer and submit an offer
Since you have already talked to a loan officer before, you can easily get a preapproval letter from him/her. While your real estate agent is preparing your offer for you, you need to set the day for the settlement, chose which title company you want to work with (your agent can refer some title companies for you to choose from).

Step 6: Get a Home Inspection
Typically, purchase offers are contingent on a home inspection of the property to check for signs of structural damage or things that may need fixing. Your real estate agent usually will help you arrange to have this inspection conducted within a few days of your offer being accepted by the seller. This contingency protects you by giving you a chance to renegotiate your offer or withdraw it without penalty if the inspection reveals significant material damage.

Step 7: Ask the seller to fix some items after the home inspection
After the Home Inspection, both you and your real estate agent will get the home inspection report from the home inspector. Your real estate agent will guide you through the whole process, but you will need to choose what are the items from the home inspection report you would like the seller to fix for the settlement day or before the day you move into the property. Sometimes, the seller will just give a credit instead of fixing some items.
Every home buyer has their own priorities when choosing a mortgage. Some are interested in keeping their monthly payments as low as possible. Others are interested in making sure that their monthly payments never increase. And still others pick a loan based on the knowledge they will be moving again in just a few years.

Step 8: Work with a Mortgage Banker to Select Your Loan
Lenders have a wide range of competitively priced loan programs and a reputation for exceptional customer service. You will have many questions when you are purchasing a house, and having an experienced, responsive loan officer assist you can make the process much easier.
Every home buyer has their own priorities when choosing a mortgage. Some are interested in keeping their monthly payments as low as possible. Others are interested in making sure that their monthly payments never increase. And still others pick a loan based on the knowledge they will be moving again in just a few years.

Step 9: Home Appraisal
Lenders will arrange for an appraiser to provide an independent estimate of the value of the house you are buying. The appraiser is a member of a third party company and is not directly associated with the lender. The appraisal will let all the parties involved know that you are paying a fair price for the property.

Step 10: Coordinate the Paperwork
As you can imagine, there is a lot of paperwork involved in buying a house. Your lender will send all of the paperwork to the title company you chose and make sure that the seller is the rightful owner of the house you are buying.

Step 11: Finally Walk Through
Your real estate agent will help you to schedule a time for doing the final walk through. Usally, the final walk through day will be the day before the closing day. During the final walk through, your real estate agent will go to the property with you and walk you through the whole property to find out if everything is still in working condition and to find out if all the items you requested the seller to be fixed are all done.

Step 12: Close the Sale: Get your dream house
At closing, you will sign all of the paperwork required to complete the purchase, including your loan documents. Then, you can move into your new house at any time!

Please fell free to contact me if you have any further questions.