Buyer's Guide
A First Time Home Buyer Indiana Guide
Eight steps, in order, in plain words. Written for people buying their first house in Central Indiana, and useful if it is your fourth.
Most of what goes wrong in a purchase goes wrong early
Not at closing. Early, when someone skipped a step because it felt like paperwork. A large share of Jennifer's clients are buying their first house, and the ABR designation she holds is the buy-side credential for precisely this work. What follows is the actual sequence, with the parts people gloss over left in.
Work out what you can actually carry
Not what a lender approves, what you are comfortable paying every month once taxes and insurance are in it. Indiana property tax rates change at every county line she works, so the same purchase price carries differently in Johnson County than in Rush County.
Get properly pre-approved
Pre-qualified and pre-approved are not the same thing and sellers here know the difference. A full pre-approval with documents already reviewed is what makes an offer credible when two arrive the same afternoon.
Narrow the towns before the houses
Nine towns, nine different tax rates, school corporations and commutes. Decide the geography first and the house search gets shorter. The communities page takes them one at a time.
Set up a search that actually runs
Listings in the I-65 corridor move quickly. A saved search on real criteria emails you as things list rather than after they are gone. Start on home search.
See houses in person, in daylight
Photographs flatter. Jennifer walks the property with you and points at the things that cost money later: the roof line, the grade away from the foundation, the panel, the crawl space.
Write an offer that fits the situation
Price is one term. Closing date, inspection window, financing type and what conveys are all negotiable, and in a thin-comp market the non-price terms are frequently what wins.
Inspection, appraisal, and the part people dread
The inspection finds things. It always finds things. The job is separating what is a bargaining item from what is a walk-away, and Jennifer will tell you plainly which is which.
Close, and get the keys
Final walkthrough, closing disclosure reviewed line by line before you sit down, then signing. You should know every number on that sheet before it is in front of you.
Four things she does that are not optional
Answers the phone
She is solo by choice. The person you call is the person negotiating your contract, not an assistant you have not met.
Explains before you sign
Contracts, disclosures and the closing statement get walked through in plain words ahead of time, not slid across a table.
Tells you when to walk
If the inspection turns up something that is not worth it, you will hear that. She would rather lose a commission than sell you a problem.
Knows the streets
Which block floods, which builder finishes on time, what is about to be built behind the tree line. That is what the civic work buys you.
Camp Atterbury is next door, so PCS moves are routine here
Camp Atterbury sits just outside Edinburgh and Franklin, two of the nine towns Jennifer works. That makes military relocation a regular part of the practice rather than an occasional file, and it is why she carries the MRP designation.
What it covers in practice: VA loan timelines that do not match civilian ones, orders that land in the middle of a contract, and buying a house you have only seen on video from another state. If that is your situation, say so on the first call and the process gets built around it.
Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority also runs first-time buyer assistance worth reviewing early.
Buying in Central Indiana
Less than most people assume. Conventional loans start around 3% down for qualified buyers, FHA around 3.5%, and both USDA and VA can reach zero down. Large parts of Rush and Decatur counties fall inside USDA-eligible areas, which surprises people. The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority also runs first-time buyer programmes worth checking before you assume you cannot buy.
Budget roughly 2% to 5% of the purchase price, covering lender fees, title work, recording, prepaid taxes and insurance. In Indiana the seller commonly covers owner's title insurance, but that is negotiable rather than automatic. Jennifer gives you a written estimate before you write the offer, not at closing.
The listing agent works for the seller. That is their legal duty and it does not change because they are friendly. A buyer's agent owes those duties to you. The ABR designation Jennifer holds is specifically the buy-side credential, and buyer representation agreements now spell out compensation in writing before you tour anything.
It depends entirely on which town. Greenwood and Franklin, both on the I-65 corridor, move fast, and correctly priced homes there often see offers within days. Push east to Rushville or Greensburg and the pace slows considerably. That difference is one reason the communities page treats each town separately.
Common here, particularly with Camp Atterbury nearby. Jennifer runs video walkthroughs, sends detail shots of the things photos hide, and can represent you through inspection and closing without you flying in twice. The MRP designation exists for exactly this.
Depends on your equity and your risk tolerance, and it is a real conversation rather than a formula. If you need the proceeds from your current house to buy the next one, the sequencing matters enormously. Start with a valuation so you know the number you are working with.
Most buyers here are also sellers
If you need to sell before you buy, the sequencing decides everything. The seller's guide covers pricing in a thin-comp market and what she does to market a house.
Seller's Guide