Home buyers, the number one thing that you need especially in this current market right now is a strategy session. So in this video, that's what we're going to do. We're going to talk about the strategies that it's going to take for you to win your next home.

I'm Mac McCord with RE/MAX Realty Center. I am a Maryland and Washington, DC licensed agent. I've been in the real estate game since 2017, and today I am here to help you through this process. So this strategy session really is all about you.

What we're going to do is we're going to talk about all the things that it takes to buy a house and we're going to walk you through the roadmap of everything that it takes to get you from contract to close, to living happily ever after in your next home.

So as we talk about the buyer's roadmap, the first thing that you need to do is sit down and have a talk with me, your agent. The reason for meeting with your agent is it's really twofold. One, you want to be able to make sure that you get to know, like, and trust the individual that's going to be helping you through the home buying process, for one. Secondly, that agent should sit down and ask you some questions to figure out whether or not you are currently in a position to be ready to buy a house.

So the way that that conversation goes is you sit down and you say, "Okay, do you have steady income? What does your debt look like? Is it low to medium? Do you have the cash for down payment and closing?" And I say and closing, because so many people talk about what it takes in terms of down payment to get into a house, but not many people talk about closing costs.

When it comes to, "Are you ready to buy a house?", we're going to sit down and we're going to go over your last two pay stubs and your bank statements from the last couple months. And then lastly, have you been in the same position at the same job, or at the very least in the same industry for the past two years?

The importance of all these questions is basically wrapped around the financing piece. So if you are looking to get financing, regardless of what kind of financing it is, these are important questions because this is all the information that we are going to need to provide to the lender so that they can run their credit checks and they can do all of their underwriting to make sure that you qualify for that loan. So this is a very important step in the process, and this one cannot be skipped in my opinion.

So the next step in the process would be for us to turn around and go get pre-approved, and that is what we're going to talk about in the next lesson. So make sure you watch the next video in the series.