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  • HandoutHandout 1: Supply & Shopping List for First-Time Home Buyers

    Handout 1: Supply & Shopping List for First-Time Home Buyers

    Before we get anywhere near a house, you need a folder. A physical one or a digital one, doesn't matter, but you need a place where all of this lives. Here's what goes in it, and roughly what it costs to get it, broken into what you actually need versus what's nice to have. Write this down and start collecting before you start touring houses. Buyers who show up prepared move faster and negotiate better, because they're not scrambling.

    Budget tier — get these, no exceptions

    • Three loan estimates, same day, on paper. Free. This is the single most important item on this list. Call three lenders, ask for a loan estimate, compare them side by side. I ran the math on this myself in 2006 and it saved us about eleven thousand dollars over the life of the loan. Nobody hands you the savings. You have to go get it.
    • A basic budget spreadsheet or notebook. Free to $10 if you buy a notebook you like. Track income, current rent, debts, and what you can actually put toward a payment without white-knuckling every month.
    • Credit reports, all three bureaus. Free once a year at annualcreditreport.com. Pull them before you talk to anyone. Fix errors now, not during underwriting.
    • A reserve fund, separate account. Not a shopping item exactly, but treat it like one. Three to six months of a future payment, sitting untouched. If closing empties this account, you didn't buy a house. You bought a liability.
    • A phone with a decent camera. You already own one. Use it to photograph every house you walk through, every room, every stain, dated. You will not remember which house had the water damage by the fourth showing. Trust me on this.
    • A home inspector, licensed, paid for by you. $300–$550 in this market, depending on square footage and whether you add radon testing (get the radon testing — Utah County has real radon zones and it's cheap insurance). Do not skip this. Do not let a bidding war talk you out of it.

    Nice-to-have tier — helps, not required

    • A simple three-lender comparison spreadsheet template. I bring mine to class and you're welcome to copy the format. Not required, a notebook works, but it's easier to see the numbers side by side in columns.
    • A tape measure and a small notebook for showings. Fifteen bucks. Handy for "will my couch fit" questions, less handy than the photos, but couples like having both.
    • A real estate agent's buyer packet or checklist app. Some agents provide this free. If yours doesn't offer one, ask.
    • A moisture meter, if you're touring older homes. $25–$40. Not essential, but if you're looking at anything built before 2000 up around the older American Fork or Pleasant Grove neighborhoods, it's a nice second opinion against the inspector.
    • A first-time homebuyer class certificate, if your loan program requires or rewards one. Ours counts. Ask your lender directly, some down payment assistance programs need proof.

    Local-ish shopping notes

    Nothing here needs a special trip. Notebooks and folders, any office aisle at Macey's or a Costco run if you want the bulk pack. Moisture meters and tape measures, any hardware store. Inspectors and lenders, ask around at the ward party before you Google strangers, somebody's cousin just went through this and has an opinion. Radon test kits, some inspectors include them, otherwise the county health department can point you toward a lab.

    One last thing. This list is cheap. Total cost to assemble everything on the budget tier is under a thousand dollars, most of it the inspection. That's a small price to pay before you sign something that'll follow you for thirty years. At the end of the day, ironically, the folder is the whole class in miniature: know what you're buying, know what it costs, don't skip the boring parts.

  • HandoutHandout 2: The Cheat Sheet

    Handout 2: The Cheat Sheet

    Here's the one-page version. Everything we talked about in class, condensed down to what you actually need in your folder. Print it, keep it in the car, pull it out when a lender or an agent throws a number at you and you want to check your own math first.

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    The Three Numbers That Matter

    Approval number — what the bank says you can borrow. This is a ceiling, not a target. Write this down: the ceiling is not the plan.

    Comfortable number — what you'd actually pay if you subtract a real reserve fund and a little breathing room. Usually 10-20% below the approval number. This is your actual budget.

    Reserve number — three to six months of full house payments (principal, interest, taxes, insurance), sitting untouched in an account you don't look at every week. If closing wipes this out, you didn't buy a house. You bought a liability. I mean that plainly.

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    Shop the Lender — Same Day, Side by Side

    • Get three loan estimates, all pulled the same day. Rates move daily, so comparing a Tuesday quote to a Thursday quote tells you nothing.
    • Line up every fee: origination, underwriting, processing, any "admin" fee with a vague name. If you can't tell what it's for, ask what it's for.
    • I saved about eleven thousand dollars over the life of our American Fork loan just by doing this once, on a spreadsheet, at the kitchen table. It's not complicated. It's just tedious, and most people skip the tedious part.

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    Down Payment: The 20% Question

    • 20% down avoids PMI (mortgage insurance). True.
    • Waiting years to save 20% while rent climbs can cost you more than PMI ever would. Also true.
    • Run both numbers before you decide. I'll show you the math in class, but don't take my word for it — do it on your own situation.

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    Pre-Qualified vs. Pre-Approved vs. Clear to Close

    Three different things. People mix these up constantly, including at ward parties, apparently.

    StageWhat it means
    Pre-qualifiedSomeone did quick math based on what you told them. Not verified.
    Pre-approvedLender pulled credit, verified income and assets. Solid, but still conditional.
    Clear to closeUnderwriting is fully done. This is the real green light.

    Don't write an offer thinking pre-approved means done. It doesn't.

    ---

    Inspection Rules

    • Get it. Pay for it. Read the whole thing, not just the summary page.
    • Do not waive the inspection to win a bidding war. I've watched that go badly more than once, and it never goes badly in the small way people expect.
    • Photograph the walkthrough. Every room, every stain, every weird smell you can't identify, before you're emotionally attached and can't see it anymore. Date the photos. You will not remember which house had the water stain.

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    Fixer-Upper Reality Check

    Skip it on your first house unless you genuinely have the skills and the time. Most people have neither and underestimate both. This isn't pessimism, it's just what I've seen.

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    Watch What Happens When...

    ...you buy right up to your approval ceiling and the water heater goes out in year two. In this hard water, it will. Leave room in the number for the thing you didn't plan for. That's the whole cheat sheet, really — leave room.

  • WorksheetHandout 3: Your Numbers, Written Down

    Handout 3: Your Numbers, Written Down

    Bring this to lender meetings and to the house itself. Blank spreadsheets in your head don't help you. Fill this in with a pencil, not your phone, so you actually think about each line.

    Part 1: What You Actually Bring In

    Monthly take-home pay (both incomes if applicable): $________

    Current rent or housing payment: $________

    Other debt payments (car, student loans, credit cards): $________

    Add those last two together. That's roughly your current "housing plus debt" number. Write it here: $________

    Part 2: The Three Lenders

    Write this down. You are getting three loan estimates, on the same day if you can manage it, so nobody's rate is stale compared to the others. Same day matters — rates move.

    Lender 1Lender 2Lender 3
    Interest rate
    Loan origination fee
    Underwriting fee
    Points (if any)
    Estimated monthly payment
    Total closing costs

    If a fee shows up on one estimate and not the others, circle it. Ask what it is. This is exactly the kind of line I skipped reading on my first house, and it cost me. Don't skip it on yours.

    Part 3: The Ceiling Isn't the Target

    Approved amount from lender: $________

    That number is a ceiling, not a goal. Now subtract for a real house you'd actually want to own:

    Target monthly payment (I'd aim for 80–90% of what you're approved for): $________

    Why leave the gap? Because at 4,600 feet with hard water running through everything, water heaters and appliances give out sooner than you'd think. Leave yourself room to replace one without panicking.

    Part 4: The Reserve Fund

    This is not optional and it is not part of your down payment, even though people treat it that way.

    Monthly payment (principal, interest, taxes, insurance): $________

    Multiply by 3: $________ Multiply by 6: $________

    That range, sitting untouched in a separate account after closing, is your reserve. If closing cleans you out, you didn't buy a house. You bought a liability with a nice kitchen.

    Part 5: Down Payment Decision

    20% down amount: $________

    Years it would take you to save that at your current rate: ________

    Monthly rent you'd pay during those years, times the number of months: $________

    I'm not telling you which way to go here — I'll run the math both ways with you in class. But write both numbers down before you decide. The people who wait for 20% without doing this math are often surprised by what waiting actually cost them.

    Part 6: Before You Waive Anything

    Circle one for each:

    Getting an inspection: YES / (there is no acceptable no)

    Reading the full inspection report myself, not just the summary: YES / NO

    Waiving the inspection to win a bidding war: NO / absolutely not

    If you circled anything other than what's printed, we need to talk before you write an offer.

    Part 7: Walkthrough Notes

    Photograph everything. Date the photos. You will not remember which house had the water stain by the third showing — nobody does. Leave room below for the house(s) you're actually looking at.

    Address: ______________________ What I noticed: ______________________________________ Questions for the inspector or seller: ________________________

    ---

    Bring this filled out, even messily, to our next session. A folder with real numbers in it is worth more than a folder with good intentions in it.

  • HandoutHandout 4: Troubleshooting Guide — Common Beginner Problems

    Handout 4: Troubleshooting Guide — Common Beginner Problems

    Here's the thing about first-time buying: almost nobody hits every one of these. Most people hit three or four. Print this, fold it, keep it in the folder, and when one of these shows up you won't be starting from zero.

    1. "I got pre-approved, so I'm basically done." No. Pre-qualified is a guess based on what you told someone over the phone. Pre-approved means a lender pulled your credit and verified some documents. Cleared to close is the only one that's actually done. I explained this to a couple at a ward party for forty minutes once. Know the difference before you fall in love with a listing.

    2. Only getting one loan estimate. The rate you're quoted is not the rate. Get three loan estimates, on the same day, and put them side by side. I ran the math on my own second house and saved about eleven thousand dollars over the life of the loan just by shopping it. Most people don't shop it. Most people leave money on the table without ever knowing it was there.

    3. Borrowing right up to the approval ceiling. The number the lender gives you is the max, not the target. Write this down: leave room. Our water is hard here, water heaters and pipes take a beating, and something will need fixing in year one or two. Buy less house than you're approved for and keep the difference.

    4. Draining the account for closing. If closing costs and the down payment empty your savings, you didn't buy a house, you bought a liability with a roof. You need three to six months of payments sitting in reserve, untouched, after closing. Separate account. Don't look at it as spare cash.

    5. Waiving the inspection to win a bidding war. Don't. I've watched this go badly more than once. Pay for the inspection, get the inspection, actually read the inspection, all the way through, including the boring parts about the crawl space.

    6. Panicking over a repair request and walking away. I coached a buyer who backed out over a six-thousand-dollar repair the seller wouldn't cover. Two months later he bought a worse house, for more money. Sometimes the repair is a real problem. Sometimes it's a negotiating chip you're overreacting to. Call your inspector back before you call it off.

    7. Buying a fixer-upper on your first house. Unless you genuinely have the skills and the time — not the Pinterest board, the actual weekends — skip it. People underestimate both, every time, including people who should know better.

    8. Waiting for 20 percent down. The strict rule says don't buy until you've got 20 percent, or you eat PMI forever. In this market, waiting years to get there while rent keeps climbing can cost you more than PMI ever would. I'll show you both sides of that math in class. I lean toward buying sooner with a smaller down payment over waiting years for a number that keeps moving on you. Your call, not mine, but run the numbers before you decide, don't just default to what your parents did.

    9. Not photographing the walkthrough. You will not remember which house had the water stain by the mountain, or which bathroom had the flickering light. Photograph everything, every room, and date the photos. I do this with dinner before anyone's allowed to eat, ask my wife. Same principle, higher stakes.

    10. Trying to time the rate market. I don't follow day-to-day rate movement closely enough to predict it, and neither does anyone else, no matter how confident they sound. Buy when the house and the payment work for you. If rates drop later, you refinance. Don't put your life on hold guessing.

    At the end of the day, ironically, most of these come down to the same fix: slow down, get a second opinion, and don't skip the paperwork because it's boring. That's most of the job.

Around the web

Sites we keep coming back to. Some picked by your instructor, some shared in class.

  • CFPB: Buying a House ↗

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's step-by-step homebuying guide, walking you from preparing to shop through closing with checklists and free tools.

  • CFPB: Preparing to Shop for Your Mortgage ↗

    Practical guidance on getting your finances in order, checking your credit reports early, and deciding how much to spend before you talk to a lender.

  • CFPB: Explore Loan Choices ↗

    Plain-language explanation of loan types (conventional, FHA, VA, USDA), loan terms, and fixed versus adjustable rates, and how each affects your payment.

  • CFPB: Loan Estimate Explainer ↗

    An interactive tool that highlights each line of a sample Loan Estimate so you can read the form your lender gives you and compare offers line by line.

  • Find a HUD-Approved Housing Counselor ↗

    A ZIP-code search that connects you to HUD-approved counselors who help first-time buyers with budgeting, credit, and the buying process, often at little or no cost.

  • HUD Utah Homeownership Resources ↗

    The federal housing agency's Utah page, linking to state first-time buyer assistance programs, approved counselors, and local homeownership help.

Videos worth your time

Hand-picked by your instructor, with notes on what to watch for.

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