Buying a Home
Buying a Home
The most common way a home purchase goes wrong is starting at the wrong end. People tour for a month, fall for something, and only then find out what a lender will actually do.
So the first conversation is with a lender, not a listing. Not a rough online figure, a real pre-approval with your documents behind it. It tells you what you can carry, what the monthly number looks like with taxes and insurance in it, and what the cash actually needs to be at closing.
Once that exists, every house you walk into is one you could really buy. That is a much better month than the alternative.
Buying a Home
Financing first, then houses
What the market asks of a buyer right now
From ARMLS, filtered by city, pulled 2026-10-01 with data through September 2026:
- Chandler. Median sale $524,950, down 6.7% year over year. About 3.03 months of supply, tighter than a year ago. Half of homes went under contract inside 48 days.
- Gilbert. Median sale $578,000, up 3.8%. About 3.54 months of supply, median 48 days.
- Scottsdale. Median sale $950,000, up 11.4%.
Metro-wide, homes sold at roughly 97.9% of list price, and pending sales were down about 35% year over year. Read together: fewer buyers competing than last year, but inventory is not piling up either. You have more room to think than buyers had in 2021, and less than a falling market would give you.
Worth knowing
Most buyers start looking before anyone has told them what they can actually carry. We do that part first.
Honest advice on every house, including the ones to skip
An agent who likes every house you like is not useful. Part of the job is saying when the roof is at the end of its life, when the price does not hold up against what has actually sold, and when the thing you love about a house is the thing that will make it hard to sell later.
There is a story in my own history about a survey I did not push for and should have. That lesson is now a step I run on every purchase, and it is the kind of thing experience buys you.
Honest advice on every house, including the ones to skip
How representation and fees work
Buyer representation is agreed in writing before we tour homes. That agreement says what I do for you, how long it runs, and how I am paid.
How a buyer's agent gets paid varies by transaction. Sometimes the seller offers compensation, sometimes it is negotiated as part of your offer, sometimes it is paid directly. None of it is standard, customary or fixed, and anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong. We will go through your specific situation in plain language before you sign anything.
Through to closing
Under contract is where the work starts. Inspection and what to do about what it finds, appraisal, loan conditions, and the deadlines attached to each.
Transaction coordination runs through Transactly, so the dates and paperwork are handled by someone whose entire job is dates and paperwork. I stay on strategy, negotiation and you. Documents get walked through in English, Spanish or French, whichever you actually think in.
Questions
- Do I need to be pre-approved before we look?
- It is strongly in your interest. A pre-approval tells you what you can carry and makes your offer credible to a seller. Touring first and financing later is how people fall for a house they cannot buy.
- How much do I need for a down payment?
- It depends on the loan. There are programmes with low down payments and there are first-time buyer options in Arizona worth checking. A lender gives you the real answer for your situation in one conversation, and I can suggest a few to talk to.
- What does it cost me to work with you?
- We agree it in writing before we tour, and I will explain every option in plain language first. Compensation varies by transaction and is negotiable. It is not standard, customary or fixed, whatever anyone tells you.
- How fast do I need to move when I find something?
- Less frantically than in 2021, but not casually. In August 2026 half of Chandler homes went under contract within 48 days (ARMLS, pulled 2026-10-01). The homes everyone wants still go quickly. The rest sit.
Work with Stephanie
Local expertise · Modern marketing · English, Spanish and French
Start your search
Tell me what you are looking for
Beds, baths, areas and a budget is enough to stop sending you houses that were never going to work. Fill in what you know; anything you are unsure of can stay blank.
Keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Your Home Comes First?