How to Begin Your Home-Buying Journey When You Feel Lost

Not knowing where to start is not the same as not being ready to start.

Most people who say they don't know where to start actually mean one of a few more specific things. They don't know which market to look in. They don't know how much they need to save. They don't know what the buying process looks like. They don't know whether what they want is achievable on their current income. These are answerable questions, not reasons to wait.

If you don't know which market to look in, start by browsing a global marketplace across two or three places that have some relevance to your situation. Your current city, a home country, and a market a peer has mentioned. Save properties that appeal to you. The act of looking at real listings in real markets moves you from abstract wanting to concrete research faster than anything else.

If you don't know how much you need to save, look at the price ranges of the properties you've been saving, add 7 to 10 percent for purchase costs, and that's a rough savings target. It's not precise, but it's specific enough to start saving toward.

If you don't know what the buying process looks like, look it up for the markets you're considering, or use the Concierge on House48 for a market briefing. Most of the information is freely available. The process is more straightforward than it looks from the outside.

If you don't know whether you can afford it, have the conversation with a financial partner before you've done more research than this. Understanding your borrowing capacity and what a realistic savings plan looks like on your income takes one conversation and changes everything about how you approach the goal.

Read: Thinking About Buying a Home? Start Here 

Not knowing where to start is a reason to take one small first step, not a reason to wait.

Take the first step at thehouse48.com