First-Time Homebuyer
Four questions stand between
you and your first home.
Each one has a free tool that answers it with real Central Florida numbers. Work them in order, or jump to the one you're stuck on.
Built by a licensed Orlando real estate agent.
Question 1
How much home can I afford?
The payment most calculators show you is wrong for Florida. They quietly assume cheap insurance and low property tax. Here those two lines are the difference between a payment you can carry and one that breaks at closing.
A national calculator
~$2,550/mo
Example $350K home, 5% down, today's rates.
- Principal & Interest
- Property Tax (lowballed)
- Insurance assumed around $90/mo
Central Florida reality
~$2,950/mo
Same home, with FL taxes and insurance counted honestly.
- Principal & Interest
- Property Tax, Central FL rates
- Insurance closer to $380/mo
Rounded example for illustration, not a loan approval or quote. Your numbers depend on the home, your rate, and your full application.
What that payment is actually made of
Principal & Interest
The loan payment itself. Your rate moves it more than the price does.
Property Taxes
Collected monthly into escrow. The bill drops once you file for the homestead exemption on your primary home.
Homeowners Insurance
The Florida wildcard. It runs well above the national average, and it is the line online estimates get wrong.
Mortgage Insurance & HOA
Under 20% down adds mortgage insurance. A condo or planned community adds an HOA fee.
One thing first-timers miss: the cash to close is more than the down payment. Closing costs land on top, usually around 3% of the price. On a $350,000 home that is roughly another $10,500. The calculator counts it, so the cash number you see is the real one.
Question 2
Is buying better than renting?
Renting is cheaper than owning today across most of the Orlando area. That does not settle the argument. It turns it into a timeline: how long would you have to stay before buying catches up? The honest version of that math also counts what your down payment would have earned if you invested it instead of spending it.
Year 1
Renting is ahead.
Past the crossover
Buying pulls ahead and keeps going.
Break-even
Where that mark lands is the whole answer. It slides with the price, the down payment, your rent today, the rate, property taxes, insurance, and what you set aside for maintenance. Move one and the year moves.
Question 3
Am I actually ready?
Ready is not a feeling. It is four concrete things: credit, cash to close, debt-to-income, and how steady your income looks on paper. And the useful answer is not yes or no. It is a tier, a realistic timeline, and the two or three specific gaps standing in your way.
Ready Now
30 to 60 days
Credit, cash, and income already line up. The work left is not getting ready. It is avoiding a fumble in the last stretch.
90-Day Sprint
60 to 120 days
Your money is further along than your timeline. The next 90 days decide the offer you get to make.
Foundation Phase
6 to 12 months
Base first, homes second. Most of that work costs attention rather than money, and it is the part you control.
Tiers and timelines are a planning guide from your answers, not a lending decision. Only a lender can tell you what you qualify for.
Ten questions, about three minutes. Your tier appears on screen the moment you finish.
Question 4
What happens between now and the keys?
The path from "I think I'm ready" to keys in hand is ten steps. Most first-timers only learn step four when they are already standing in it. Here is how it starts.
- 1Check Your Credit
- 2Calculate What You Can Actually Afford
- 3Build the Down Payment + Closing + Reserve
- 4Choose Your Agent
- + 6 more, through pre-approval, touring, offers, inspection, and closing day
The guide walks every step, then closes with the Orlando-specific gotchas: condo and HOA document review timing, CDD assessments on newer subdivisions, rainy season and roof inspection timing, and how school zones factor into resale.
Emailed to you in 60 seconds
Why I built this for first-time buyers
Most "buyer guides" handed out by agents in this market are two pages of inspirational copy and a glossary. They don't answer the questions you actually showed up with, and they leave out the Florida costs that decide whether a home fits your budget at all.
So I built the opposite. Four tools, one per question. A calculator that runs real Central Florida taxes and insurance instead of national averages. A rent-versus-buy model that counts what your down payment would have earned if you invested it. A quiz that hands you a tier, a timeline, and the specific gaps in your way. And the ten-step roadmap for everything between now and the keys. All four are free.
Not your first home?
If you've bought before, the hard part isn't the math.
These four tools are built for first-time buyers. You already know what a closing looks like. What gets hard the second time is the timing: selling and buying in the same month, moving from out of state before you have seen the neighborhood, or writing an offer strong enough to win without overpaying for it. That is a conversation, not a calculator.
Schedule a Buyer ConsultationFree. Orlando area.