The GoReal Guide
Buying your first Bay Area home, step by step
The process looks intimidating from outside — nine steps, a few acronyms, one big wire transfer. But every step is learnable, and you'll have a salaried human advisor for all of them. Here's the whole journey.
- 1
Figure out your real budget
Start with the monthly payment you can live with — not the maximum a lender will approve. Include property tax (~1.2% of price per year in most Bay Area counties), insurance, and HOA dues if you're looking at condos. Our mortgage calculator does this math for you. A common rule: keep total housing costs under a third of your gross income.
- 2
Get pre-approved, not just pre-qualified
A pre-qualification is a guess; a pre-approval is a lender actually verifying your income, assets, and credit. In competitive Bay Area markets, listing agents often won't take an offer seriously without one. Shop 2–3 lenders — rate quotes within a few days count as one credit inquiry.
- 3
Pick your search area like a local
Bay Area micro-markets vary wildly: the same money buys a condo in San Francisco, a townhouse in San Mateo, or a single-family home in San Jose or the East Bay. Decide what you'll trade between space, commute, and schools. Add your work address in GoReal and every listing shows your actual commute time.
- 4
Search and shortlist
Set a saved search with your filters and let new listings come to you — good homes here can go pending in a week. Save favorites, compare price per square foot, and pay attention to days-on-market: it's your best clue about how much negotiating room exists.
- 5
Tour with intent
Photos flatter. Tour anything you'd realistically offer on, and go beyond the staging: water pressure, cell signal, street noise at rush hour, the neighbor's yard. Open houses need no appointment; for everything else your advisor books private showings, usually within a day.
- 6
Understand disclosures before you offer
California sellers must disclose known issues, and Bay Area listings usually include a full disclosure package up front: inspection reports, the Transfer Disclosure Statement, natural-hazard reports, HOA documents for condos. Read them with your advisor before offering — here, most contingencies are decided by what's in this package.
- 7
Make a competitive offer
Your advisor pulls comparable sales and recommends a price and terms: contingencies (inspection, appraisal, loan), timeline, and earnest money (typically 3% here). In multiple-offer situations, terms often matter as much as price. Because GoReal advisors are salaried, the advice is about winning the right home — not inflating the price our fee rides on.
- 8
Escrow: the 21–30 day sprint
Once accepted, you'll wire your earnest-money deposit, your lender orders an appraisal, and you complete any inspections. Contingencies get removed on schedule as each box checks out. Your advisor and the escrow officer coordinate the paperwork; your job is mostly responding fast to your lender.
- 9
Close, fund, and get the keys
A few days before closing you'll do a final walkthrough, sign with a notary, and wire your down payment. The loan funds, the county records the deed, and the home is yours. At this point GoReal's flat $5,000 fee settles through escrow — and the commission difference is credited to you.
Common first-timer questions
How much do I need for a down payment in the Bay Area?
Twenty percent avoids private mortgage insurance (PMI), but many first-time buyers put down 10% or less. Conventional loans allow as little as 3–5% down; FHA loans allow 3.5%. On a $1M home, that range is $35,000–$200,000 — plus 1–2% for closing costs.
How long does buying a home take?
Typically 2–6 months of searching, then 21–30 days of escrow once your offer is accepted. Competitive Bay Area buyers who tour quickly and have pre-approval in hand often move faster.
What credit score do I need?
Most conventional lenders want 620+, with the best rates around 740+. FHA programs go lower. A mortgage broker can tell you exactly where you stand — it costs nothing to ask.
Should I wait for prices or rates to drop?
Nobody reliably times the market. The practical questions are: can you comfortably afford the monthly payment, and do you plan to stay 5+ years? If yes to both, the best time is when you find the right home. You can refinance a rate; you can't refinance a purchase price you were outbid on.
How much do I really save with GoReal?
It depends on the price. A traditional 2.5–3% buyer-agent commission on a $1.5M home is $37,500–$45,000; GoReal charges a flat $5,000 and credits excess seller-offered compensation back to you at closing (subject to lender guidelines), so a buyer keeps roughly $32,500–$40,000 at that price — around $25,000 on a $1.2M home, and less on a cheaper one. Our mortgage calculator shows the exact figure for any price.
Ready for step one?
Talk it through with an advisor — free, no obligation, no pressure.