Our Complete Guide to Owning Your First Home

Taking the leap and purchasing your own home for the first time is a memorable, exciting milestone in your life that you’ll always cherish—but there’s no doubt that it can sometimes feel overwhelming or intimidating, and it can be difficult to know where to start. At Wilkinson Homes, we’ve worked with countless homeowners throughout the great state of Delaware and the Chester County, PA areas—and with over 3 decades of experience at our fingertips, we’ve put together a complete guide to ensure that your first-time homebuying experience is a seamless, successful and stress-free process. 

Know what you’re looking for

Before you purchase your first new-construction home, it’s important to have an idea of what you’re looking for. Every step of the process is significant for your dream home decisions—especially finding an ideal floor plan and the perfect community for you and your family. A floor plan is essentially the roadmap for how your new home will look and function, and the community in which you reside can provide you with a great sense of belonging and a strong social connection. There are a few things to consider before picking your dream layout and community, and that decision can be made easy with a versatile, innovative builder like Wilkinson Homes. 

From energy efficiency to customizations and everything in between, it’s a good idea to know what features are important to you when looking at your floor plan options. Do you need a large kitchen island, and would a two-story layout be beneficial for your family? What about storage or the size of each bedroom, and is it important for you to have a study or flex room? Would you rather build on your own lot for an ultra-personalized homebuying experience, or is a quick move-in home more up your alley? All of these questions and many more are things you’ll want to address with yourself before deciding on your forever home, and you need to know your top priorities for features in your dream layout—so it’s a good idea to make a list, and from there you can easily sift through your choices. 

When it comes to finding the right community, you’ll want to consider a number of factors that pertain to your personal preferences and lifestyle. Create a profile of your ideal neighborhood by deciding on the key components—such as location, proximity to important places, school districts, amenities and the environment. If you choose a valued, experienced builder like Wilkinson Homes, you’re sure to find a community that perfectly fits your wants and needs—with each of our incredible communities thoughtfully placed and carefully designed throughout some of the best areas in Delaware. Once you’ve found your forever home in an amazing community, you can move on to the purchasing process.

Lock in your financing 

There’s no question that buying a home is a huge investment, and because of this, it’s essential to take the time to grow your savings. 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. To guide you in the right direction, 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.

After you’ve saved up a comfortable amount of money, a crucial step for purchasing your first new-construction home is securing your mortgage loan—and don’t forget to be on the lookout for any special offers or deals being run by your trusted builder to help save you money. When you meet with your preferred lender to begin the financial process on your new home, there are several items you will need to have ready for your first meeting to get pre-approved for a loan—including proof of identification, proof of income, proof of employment, proof of assets and your credit score. Once you are pre-approved, your financial specialist 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—putting you one step closer to achieving your dream home. 

Choose Wilkinson Homes

Purchasing your first home is an exciting time in your life for you and your family—especially when you purchase a new-construction home from a trusted builder like Wilkinson Homes. When you work with our experienced, helpful team at Wilkinson Homes, you get a streamlined and simplified buying process that sets us apart from any competition. From the time that you attend your first meeting with our team to when your gorgeous home is move-in ready—and with our extensive warranty designed for your peace of mind—our entire process provides our homeowners with the utmost comfort, reassurance and validation, and you’ll never have to worry when you choose Wilkinson Homes. 

The process of buying a home for the first time shouldn’t feel like a daunting or stressful task—and you can rest assured that our team at Wilkinson Homes will make the entire process an enjoyable, fulfilling experience with full transparency from start to finish. If you’re ready to start the exciting journey to your forever home in any of our incredible communities throughout Delaware and Chester County, Pennsylvania—give us a call at (610) 274-8283 or contact us online at any time.