Down payment
3 to 20 percent of the price
The 20 percent rule is a myth. Many first-time buyers put down 3 to 5 percent, and Massachusetts programs can bring it lower. Less down usually means adding mortgage insurance to the monthly payment.
Buying your first home, explained like a friend would.
No jargon, no pressure. Here is what buying a home actually costs, how long it takes, and what happens at every step, in the order it happens.
What buying actually costs up front.
The sticker price is not the number that decides whether you can buy. These four are. Rough ranges below; the affordability calculator turns them into your numbers.
Closing costs
Roughly 2 to 5 percent
Loan fees, appraisal, title work, insurance, and prepaid taxes, all due on closing day. Your lender must give you an official estimate early, so nothing here should be a surprise.
Earnest money deposit
Often 1 to 5 percent
Paid when your offer is accepted to show you are serious. It is not an extra cost: it counts toward what you owe at closing.
Cushion you keep
Your call, but not zero
Moving, immediate fixes, and an emergency fund that survives the purchase. A home you can barely close on is a home you cannot afford to maintain.
Find my real price rangeFree, no account, about two minutes.
Eight steps, usually three to six months.
Most first-time buyers go from "let's get serious" to keys in three to six months. Only the last stretch, from accepted offer to closing, runs on fixed deadlines. Everything before it moves at your pace.
The steps, in plain words.
Figure out what you can actually afford
Typical time: A weekend of honest math
Before you look at a single home, decide what monthly payment feels safe. A lender will often approve you for more than is comfortable, so this number is yours to set, not theirs.
Your monthly payment is more than the mortgage. It also includes property taxes, home insurance, possibly mortgage insurance, and repairs. Add those in from the start and the rest of the process gets much less surprising.
Your to-do list
Words you'll hear
Down payment
The part of the price you pay up front. You do not need 20 percent. Many first-time buyers put down 3 to 5 percent. A smaller down payment usually means paying mortgage insurance, which is a monthly cost, not a penalty.
Closing costs
Fees for the loan, appraisal, title work, insurance, and taxes, paid on closing day. Plan for roughly 2 to 5 percent of the price, on top of your down payment.
PMI (private mortgage insurance)
A monthly charge most lenders add when you put down less than 20 percent. It protects the lender, not you, and it usually can be removed later as you pay the loan down.
Get preapproved for a mortgage
Typical time: 1 to 3 days once your paperwork is together
A preapproval is a letter from a lender saying they have checked your income, debts, and savings and would likely lend you up to a certain amount. Sellers take offers with one far more seriously, and in a competitive market most agents will want you to have it before touring.
Talk to more than one lender. The rate matters, but so do fees, how fast they can close, and how quickly they answer the phone. Compare the whole offer, not just the headline number.
Your to-do list
Words you'll hear
Preapproval vs. prequalification
Prequalification is a quick estimate based on what you tell the lender. Preapproval means they verified your documents. The preapproval letter is the one that carries weight with sellers.
Rate lock
Freezing your interest rate for a set window, often 30 to 60 days, so it cannot rise while you close. Ask each lender when the lock starts and what it costs to extend.
First-time buyer programs
Loans with lower down payments or reduced costs for first-time buyers. Massachusetts has state programs such as MassHousing and ONE Mortgage. Ask every lender what you qualify for.
Choose an agent to be on your side
Typical time: A week of conversations
A buyer's agent works for you, not the seller. They find homes, book tours, tell you when a price is wrong, write the offer, and keep every deadline from slipping once you are under contract.
Before touring together you will sign a written buyer agreement. That is normal now. It should say what the agent will do, for how long, and how they get paid. Ask them to walk you through it in plain words, and do not sign anything you do not understand.
Your to-do list
Words you'll hear
Buyer agency agreement
The written contract between you and your agent. It covers the services, the time period, the compensation, and how either side can end it.
Commission
How agents are paid, usually a percentage of the price. Your agreement states what your agent charges. It is negotiable, and in many deals the seller agrees to cover some or all of it. Get the arrangement in writing before you tour.
Pick your towns and start looking
Typical time: 2 to 8 weeks, often alongside touring
The same budget buys very different homes in different towns. Commute, property taxes, schools, and what your money gets all shift from one line on the map to the next.
Pick two or three areas that could work and get to know them: what is for sale, how fast homes go, and what you would trade to be there. Browsing real listings in your range is the quickest education there is.
Your to-do list
Words you'll hear
Days on market
How long a listing has been for sale. Low numbers across a town mean competition and fast decisions. A single home sitting much longer than its neighbors is worth asking about.
Comps (comparables)
Recently sold homes similar to one you are considering. They are the evidence behind what a home is really worth, and your agent will pull them before any offer.
Tour homes with a level head
Typical time: A few weekends
Staging works on everyone. The way to stay clear-eyed is to bring the same short checklist to every home, take photos and notes, and compare homes against your list instead of against your excitement.
Look past the furniture: water stains on ceilings, the age of the roof and heating system, how the windows feel, whether the layout works on a rainy Tuesday and not just a sunny open house.
Your to-do list
Words you'll hear
Open house
Set hours when anyone can walk through without an appointment. Useful early for calibrating your eye, even in towns you are only curious about.
Showing
A private appointment to see a home, booked by your agent. When homes move fast, a same-day showing is often how you get ahead of the weekend crowd.
Make an offer
Typical time: Decided in a day, answered within a few
An offer is more than a price. It includes your deposit, your proposed dates, and contingencies, which are the conditions that let you back out safely if something important goes wrong. The strongest offer is not always the highest one; sellers also care about certainty and clean terms.
Your agent will pull recent sold prices for similar homes so the number rests on evidence. Decide your walk-away price before you offer, while your head is still clear. If the seller counters, you will already know where you stand.
Your to-do list
Words you'll hear
Earnest money (the deposit)
A deposit, often around 1 to 5 percent, that shows you are serious. It is held safely and goes toward your purchase at closing. Miss a contract deadline without protection and it can be at risk, which is why the dates matter.
Contingency
A condition your purchase depends on, such as a satisfactory inspection, the home appraising for the price, or your loan being approved. If the condition fails, a contingency lets you renegotiate or walk away with your deposit.
Counteroffer
The seller answering with different terms instead of yes or no. Negotiation over price, dates, and contingencies is a normal part of the process.
Under contract: inspect, appraise, finalize the loan
Typical time: Usually 30 to 60 days
The seller said yes. Now several clocks run at once: the home inspection, the lender ordering an appraisal, the final loan review, and the title check that proves the seller can actually sell. Your agent, lender, and attorney each own pieces of it, and your job is mostly to respond fast and track the dates.
The inspection is for you. If it finds real problems, you can usually ask for repairs, ask for money off, or walk away under your contingency. No home is perfect; the question is whether the problems are ones you can live with at this price.
Your to-do list
Words you'll hear
Inspection vs. appraisal
The inspection is a professional checking the condition of the home for you. The appraisal is the lender confirming the home is worth the loan. You want both, and neither replaces the other.
Underwriting
The lender's final, detailed review of your finances and the property before they commit the money. The document requests can feel picky. Answering fast keeps closing on schedule.
Title
The legal ownership record. A title search confirms the seller truly owns the home and nothing, like an old lien, is attached to it. Title insurance protects against surprises found later.
Clear to close
The lender's green light that every condition is met and the money will be there on closing day. It is the milestone the whole month is aiming at.
Closing day: walk through, sign, get the keys
Typical time: About an hour of signing, after a final walkthrough
Just before closing you will do a final walkthrough to confirm the home is in the agreed condition and any promised repairs happened. Then you sign, the money moves, and in Massachusetts an attorney typically runs the closing and confirms the sale is recorded. Then the keys are yours.
Three business days before closing you receive the Closing Disclosure, the final statement of your loan terms and exactly how much cash to bring. Compare it line by line with the Loan Estimate your lender gave you earlier, and ask about anything that moved.
Your to-do list
Words you'll hear
Closing Disclosure
The final, official summary of your loan and costs. By law it must reach you at least three business days before closing so you have time to check it.
Final walkthrough
Your last look at the home, usually within a day of closing, to confirm it is in the condition you agreed to buy.
Recording
The deed being filed with the county registry, which makes the home legally yours. In Massachusetts the closing attorney confirms it, often the same day.
This guide is educational, and it leans on common Massachusetts practice. Contracts, deposits, deadlines, and closing customs vary by state and by deal. Your agent, lender, and attorney confirm the dates and duties that apply to your purchase.
Plain answers before you have to decide anything.
Stuck on a step? Ask us, plainly.
Tell us where you are and what feels unclear. A Province & Domain advisor will answer in plain words, with no obligation attached. First-time questions are the questions we like best.
- We explain what a step means before you have to decide anything.
- We know the Massachusetts towns, prices, and closing customs.
- If you are not ready to buy, we will say so. That is useful too.
The questions everyone actually asks.
Do I really need 20 percent down?
No. That number lingers from older lending rules. Conventional loans go down to 3 percent for qualified first-time buyers, and Massachusetts programs like MassHousing and ONE Mortgage are built for smaller down payments. Putting down less usually adds mortgage insurance to your monthly payment, which is a cost worth weighing, not a reason to wait years.
How long does the whole thing take?
From deciding to get serious to holding keys, most first-time buyers land between three and six months. The searching part is flexible and moves at your pace. Once an offer is accepted, the timeline firms up: usually 30 to 60 days to closing.
Who pays my agent?
It is set in the written agreement you sign with your agent before touring. The fee is negotiable, and in many deals the seller agrees to cover some or all of it as part of the offer. The important part: you will know exactly what you would owe, in writing, before you commit to anything.
What credit score do I need?
Many conventional loans look for a score in the mid-600s, and government-backed options can go lower. A higher score mostly buys you a better interest rate, not just a yes. Pull your free credit reports early, fix any errors, and ask a lender to look at your actual numbers before assuming you would not qualify.
What happens if the inspection finds problems?
Almost every inspection finds something, and most findings are ordinary maintenance. For real issues, an inspection contingency usually gives you three choices: ask the seller to fix it, ask for money off, or walk away with your deposit. Your agent will help you judge which problems matter at this price.
Can I back out after my offer is accepted?
It depends on your contingencies. If an inspection, financing, or appraisal contingency fails, you can typically exit with your deposit. Backing out for reasons your contract does not cover can put the deposit at risk. This is exactly what the contingencies in step 6 are for, and why your agent and attorney read the fine print.
Fixed or adjustable rate, and what does that mean?
A fixed-rate mortgage keeps the same interest rate, and the same principal-and-interest payment, for the life of the loan. An adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) starts lower but can move up or down after a set period, often 5 or 7 years. Most first-time buyers choose fixed for the predictability. An ARM can make sense if you are confident you will move or refinance before the rate adjusts, but that is a bet, and your lender should show you the worst-case payment before you make it.
Should I wait for prices or rates to drop?
Nobody can time the market, including professionals. The more useful question is whether the monthly payment on a home you like fits your budget today. If rates fall later, refinancing is an option. If prices rise while you wait, that option never existed.