7-Day Plan — Day 7 of 7
Become search-ready
What should I do next? Bring the last six days together into one plan.
Direct answer
You now have a clearer home-buying plan than most first-time buyers start with: a real budget, a cash-to-close estimate, a mortgage-readiness checklist, a shortlist of cities, a list of assistance programs to investigate, and a way to evaluate your buying team. This page pulls it into one place.
Your plan
My First Home Plan — a template to fill in
This isn't a saved, personalized document yet — that's on our roadmap. For now, use this as a template: pull each answer from the corresponding day above and write it down somewhere you'll actually look at again.
- Buying stage
- Where you are right now — exploring, saving, preparing for pre-approval...
- Target purchase range
- From Day 1's affordability calculator result
- Comfortable monthly housing cost
- May be lower than the calculator's max — your call
- Estimated cash available
- From Day 2's cash-needed figure, checked against real savings
- Areas to explore
- Your Day 4 shortlist of 3-5 cities
- Assistance programs to investigate
- From Day 5's assistance finder results
- Mortgage readiness status
- Documents gathered? Pre-approved by how many lenders?
- Next 3 actions
- The most concrete things you'll actually do this week
- Buying timeline
- Your honest estimate — not aspirational
Checklist
Before you start actively searching
- Saved a real budget from the affordability calculator
- Know your estimated cash needed at closing
- Started gathering pre-approval documents
- Have a shortlist of 3-5 cities that fit your budget
- Checked which assistance programs might apply to you
- Know how you'll evaluate a lender, agent, and inspector when the time comes
Official sources
Caveats: this plan is a starting point built from educational estimates, not a substitute for a licensed lender, agent, or financial advisor. Numbers change as rates, prices, and your own situation change — revisit the calculators before you make an offer, not just once at the start. See our methodology page for exactly how these estimates are calculated and verified.
You're done with the plan
What's next is up to your timeline, not a schedule
Revisit any day above whenever your numbers change, or start exploring cities, assistance programs, and deadlines directly.