• Real estate agent: Anyone who earns a real estate license can be called a real estate agent, whether that license is as a sales professional, an associate broker or a broker. State requirements vary, but in all states you must take a minimum number of classes and pass a test to earn your license.
• REALTOR®: A real estate agent who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS®, which means that he or she must uphold the standards of the association and its code of ethics.
• Real estate broker: A person who has taken education beyond the agent level as required by state laws and has passed a broker’s license exam. Brokers can work alone or they can hire agents to work for them.
• Real estate salesperson: Another name for a real estate agent.
• Real estate associate broker: Someone who has taken additional education classes and earned a broker’s license but chooses to work under the management of a broker.

• Buyer's agent: An agent that represents the buyer. 
• Accredited buyer's representative: A buyer's agent who has completed advanced training and can help buyer's through the entire home buying process. An ABR is also a realtor and sometimes requires clients to sign a Buyer Representation Agreement.
• Seller's agent: An agent that represents the seller.
• Listing agent: Another name for a seller's agent. However, they sometimes have a different focus or responsibilities.
• Dual agent: A dual agent is one that represents both the buyer and the seller in one transaction. This will happen when the property is under the same brokerage firm that the buyer's agent works for. 

When I first started blogging I wrote a post titled, "75 Things I Wish I learned in High School." I touched upon the fact that I wish I had learned how to buy a house. It's such a huge step in our lives and yet there's no one that really tells us the right way to do it. That's why I decide to write a blog series about my experience and tips on buying a house!

My first post in this series was of course the introduction titled, "We Bought A House!" In that post, I explained that I wanted this series to be both educational and entertaining. Buying a house is pretty serious and I want to help others figure out the best way to do it!

Today's blog post is on finding a mortgage lender. When it came time for my husband and I to look for a lender, it was pretty obvious who we were going with. In fact, we only contacted one company. Of course, that won't usually be the case. 

Since my husband is in the military, we contacted Veterans United. It was a late Friday night and we didn't expect to hear anything until the following Monday. We were taken by surprise when we got a call less than an hour later. This brings me to my first tip!

The first contact with a lender is very important!
We were shocked that our lender got back to us on a Friday night. Their timely manner made us feel like we were important to them and that they would continue treating us that way. It's important that you feel important to your lender. There are a lot of last minute questions, changes, and contracts during this process. You want to work with someone that is going to get back to you very quickly. Our lender always answered our calls, emails, and agent very quickly. She also made sure to email and overnight us with any contract or paperwork that we needed to review. 

Make sure to contact various lenders!
I know that this isn't what we did, but it is still an important tip. You don't want to get stuck with a lender that doesn't treat you the way that you'd like to be treated. It's also important that you're getting the best deal with the best lender. It's important that you shop around a little. You wouldn't buy the first car you saw on the lot, so why would you go with your first mortgage lender?

Check out lenders reviews!
Reviews are always important! I'm the kind of person that will read every review before making a decision, but I'm not saying that is what you need to do. Just make sure you are reading the highest and lowest ratings. While going through reviews, make sure to remember that some people only review when they have strong feelings about something. In fact, I only wrote teacher evaluations for the professors I either loved or hated. I never really had anything to say about the ones that were okay.

Make sure you are being heard!
It's important that your lender listens to you. There is no reason to get approved for a loan that you really can't afford. Our lender made sure to ask exactly how much we wanted to spend each month. She then told us how much our budget should be when taxes and insurance are figured in. She made sure that we didn't pick a house that we couldn't afford, because she didn't give us more of a loan than we could handle. She listened to our wants and needs and helped us understand what our budget was.

Ask lenders questions!
Buying a house is a HUGE decision, you don't want to make any mistakes. That is why you need to make sure you ask questions. If you don't understand your interest rate or lender fees, it's ok to ask questions. You should never make a decision if you don't understand something. Your lender isn't just there to approve you for a loan; they should be there to answer questions and help you through the lending process.

Compare mortgages and lenders!
Finding a mortgage lender is obviously important, but you also need to find a great mortgage offer too! You'll want to pick a company that provides both. You might love one lender, but if they don't give you the best offer than maybe it isn't the best idea to work with them. You are the one buying the house, make sure you're getting everything that you want!

That's all I've really got on finding a mortgage lender. It is just one of the many steps of buying a house, but it's a very big one! There are tons of lenders all over the place, it's just a matter of time until you find the right one.

We've been keeping this a secret for a while now, but we officially closed on the house last Monday! However, we were in the process of buying this house since February 19th! I'm so incredibly excited for the house and all of the changes we'll be making to make it our new home.

Originally, we weren't going to buy a house until way down the road. I'm talking like 7-10 years from now. Since my husband is military, it didn't make since to buy when we'd be moving every couple of years.

We didn't actually consider moving until the beginning of February. Our lease was ending soon at our apartment and I knew I needed something on the first floor, but our apartment complex just didn't have anything. We started looking around, but there just isn't much here. Plus, since it's a college town, there was very little available before August. 

Another factor was our budget. Unfortunately, since we live in a college town a lot of the rentals are per room. They usually average about $450 each and since we were looking for a three bedroom house/apartment, that just wasn't doable. We thought we caught a break with a cute little three bedroom for a good price, so we went and looked at it and we really liked it. The rental agency said that we could think about it over the weekend and put in an application on Monday. We went to their site on Monday and they had raised the price to $1200! So we had to keep looking. 

Eventually I ended up on another realty website that we could rent or buy from. I saw this adorable gray house for about $160,000 and it said that our payments would only be about $700. That's less than we've been paying to rent a two bedroom apartment! It was that moment that we started to seriously consider buying.

The following Friday night, we put in a request for a quote on the Veterans United website. We didn't expect to hear anything until Monday, so we were shocked when we got a call less than an hour later. The woman on the phone asked us a few questions and we were prequalified in minutes. 

Immediately after hanging up, we started looking at houses. It took weeks of searching, touring, and meeting with our realtor before we found the one. I honestly never thought I would have a mortgage and a three bedroom house at the age of 20, but I am so incredibly grateful. 

As I mentioned in my post, 75 Things I Wish I Learned in High School, buying a house was one of the biggest points. This was our first home and we had no idea where to start. I, of course being the overachieving researcher that I am, starting reading articles and blogposts about all the steps that we needed to take. It took a while to figure everything out, but we have finally done it. We own a house! 

I'm no expert, but I've decided to start a blog series on the experience. I'll share my best tips for the entire process and I'll even keep you updated on all of the changes we make to our own home. 

If you're interested in seeing the new house, I've included some pictures below. If you don't want to see them, you can just scroll to then end for our last few notes!

I have been wanted to do a Target dollar spot post for quite some time now. Unfortunately, every single time I've gone in the last two months, it has been completely wiped out. Their Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter items have just flown off of the shelves.

Luckily, this time they had everything I wanted! I'm excited to update my office and get it more organized and Target had just what I needed!