text: what is the process for buying one's own home? i'm getting married in july, my fiance and i both have good jobs, minimal bills and are looking to buy our own home. i've always rented and i don't know how to go about this. sorry if this is a stupid question, i'm just afraid we'll get ripped off. what is the process, or what steps do we need to take in order to find our first home together? there are a couple things that you can do  - look for for sell signs in the neighborhood that you're interested.  you can get a sense of how much you need for the house that you like  - get a pre-approval from a bank, this way you know how much a bank is willing to lend you  - ask friends/relatives for referrals of real estate agents.  once you contacted the agent, he/she will show you houses that match the critiria you mentioned.  so it's better to know what you want first.