6 Easy Steps to Buying a Northwest Arkansas Home

Nov 05, 2019

Tired of renting? 🏡 Relocating to Northwest Arkansas? Upgrading to a bigger place? Whatever your reason, the first step is the decision to buy.

Let’s face it, everyone loves a checklist 😊

Step 1: Research time

Personally, I have YouTube’d my way through many projects in the past. A few home repairs, landscaping projects, and various car repairs. If you’re like me, you get to that point where you say “okay, over my head, I’m calling an expert”.

Buying a home is no different. You will want to familiarize yourself with the process, but having an expert to lean on is invaluable. I, personally, leaned on a wonderful agent to help navigate the process as soon as I realized I was past the stage of “Let’s do this from YouTube”.

Step 2. Get Pre-qualified

Everyone is dreaming of a 10-bedroom/ 10-bathroom home with a basketball court in the garage. What, that’s not available in my pre-qualification price range of $250k? Pre-qualified letters let you know what you can afford, and this will help you save time looking at a narrowed list of attainable properties.

Did you know it also helps avoid delays in closing? Faster closings will put you at an advantage during the bidding process.

Make sure you talk to a reputable lender to get pre-approval for your new home.

Gateway Mortgage is our Northwest Arkansas local partner that services Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, Bella Vista & surrounding areas. They handle pre-qualifications all the time and can get you Pre-Qualified.

Step 3. Search for your home with localized apps and agents

National sites (Insert Z*LLOW here) can be less accurate than our local Northwest Arkansas home search tools. You can create an account on our site that will give you direct access to the local MLS (Multiple Listing Service). This will represent a far more accurate view of available homes in NWA.

Want to search on your own right now? Check out local NWA inventory here!

Step 4. Let’s Make an Offer 

This is where the nitty-gritty starts. Homes are priced based on many variables. One very important facet is the comparable homes sold in the area. Research what other homes in proximity have sold for Or let your Coldwell Banker Agent do this for you. Expertise in the history of the homes sold in an area will help you pay the best possible price. This is where many of the “YouTube DIY Home Buyers” get stumped.

Katie Mihalevich, one of our experienced Fayetteville agents points out,

“A buyer’s agent must represent the best interests of their client over anyone else’s. (Sellers’ agents are doing the same for their clients). So, lean on the knowledge and expertise of an agent to help you get the most out of the experience!”

Pro tip: National sites like (insert Z*LLOW Here) can be widely inaccurate on price. We see this every day. Search here for more accuracy.

Step 5. Home Inspections are highly recommended

We give our cars a thorough review before we drive those off the lot.

Why wouldn’t you do this for your home?

We strongly consider you have the home checked out by a professional home inspector. It’s affordable, it helps calm the worries of the new purchase, and allows you to identify anything wrong with the home before you sign the papers. This also affords you the option to add contingencies to the offeror even back out, free of penalty, within a designated time frame. 

Step 6. Closing time!! Woo Hoo!

“Closing” is a meeting where the transaction is finalized. Agents guide you through all closing procedures, including paperwork and other activities being performed by outside parties to help make your home officially yours. 

Got questions about the process? Contact us today to get started!