When it feels about time to stop renting and time to purchase a home there are a few basic things that you should understand. Here are the steps you will need to take in order to make purchasing a home more than just a dream.

First, get a copy of your credit report and clean up your credit record as much as possible. This will help you when it is time to get a loan from the bank.

Second, go to your bank. Talk to a loan officer and tell them you want to buy a house.

They will have you fill out an application and a Pre-Qual Letter. You may have to pay an application fee of $40 or so to the bank for this service.

Third, find a realtor. The seller pays the commission to your realtor, so it costs you nothing to have a realtor.

Your Realtor serves you by letting you know what houses are available that meet your needs and by answering your questions about the process.

In theory a Realtor should also help you get the best price but don’t count on it because the more you pay for the house, the more the Realtor makes in commission. Choose your Realtor wisely and ask opinions from friends and family before settling on one.

Fourth, tell the Realtor the things that you are looking for in your potential house. This would include what part of town you want to live in, what style of house you want, and how much the bank is willing to loan you.

Then, your Realtor will compile and give you a list of houses that match your criteria. After receiving the list of homes you can go and look at the actual homes.

Walk through them and decide if you really would like to live there or not. This sounds obvious but is important to decide for the next steps.

Fifth, when you have found a house you want, get the Disclosure from the seller. This is a list of problems with the house that the seller must give you by law and that the seller already knows about.

If after seeing the Disclosure you still want to purchase the house, ask the Realtor how much money you should offer on the home. It’s rare that you accept the price given by the seller, usually you’ll offer slightly less than they’re asking.

Get a list of comparable, similar homes that have sold in the same area recently, from your Realtor so you can get an idea of how much the house is really worth.

Sixth, make an offer on the home. Making an offer means signing a contract.

If the seller accepts your offer then they’ll sign too. At this point you’re generally obligated to buy the house and the seller is generally obligated to sell, though depending on the wording of the contract either of you have the right to walk away from the deal under certain circumstances.

Seventh, have the house professionally inspected. You generally have to pay for this and it will cost $350 or so. If the inspection turns up problems not listed on the disclosure you can try to get the seller to lower the price or fix the problems before the sale, or to walk away from the deal if your contract allows.

Eighth, the bank will have the house appraised to make sure it’s worth what you’re paying for it. You might have to pay this up front; otherwise it will be added to your closing costs.

Besides paying for it up front if that’s required, you’re not involved in this step of the process.

Ninth, find an insurance agent and get a quote on homeowners insurance. It is highly recommended that you price shop.

Pick one and tell them you want the insurance. The cost of the insurance will be added to your closing costs, so you don’t have to pay this at the time.

Tenth, this is when you actually close on your home. Meet with the title company or an attorney, usually selected by the lender or the seller that is dealing with the closing on the home.

This company will help you take care of the paperwork. You’ll owe some money, such as the down payment, and closing costs unless you got those rolled into the mortgage.

Arrange with your bank to wire the funds to the closing company or bring a check with you to closing. You don’t need to get a check for the mortgage loan; the bank will wire that directly to the office handling the closing.

Currently, it is a good time to purchase real estate. According to the growth numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau News report St. George real estate is known as the nation’s fastest growing U.S. metro area.

There are many other areas across the nation that are growing rapidly making the property more likely to increase as the years go by.

As you follow these basic steps you can make the process of buying a home simple.