Purchasing a home generally is a big investment. That is why you should as much as possible try to avoid making mistakes. For one, even if you will not need the financing until you close the purchase, it would be a wise choice to get pre-qualified or pre-approved for a loan. This way you will not be wasting your time looking at houses you can't even afford in the first place. Your choices would be narrowed down to a certain price range. Once you find the house that fits your needs, you can make an offer. This usually means that you have to pay 10% of your offer. Negotiations will go on until you and the seller agrees at a certain price. At this point it would be wiser to hire a solicitor to assist you with the paperwork. This would generally hasten the process since the solicitor would know the process much better. Even if you have to pay him a fee, it's usually worth it because there would be less hassle and sometimes it even becomes cheaper. Don't forget to arrange the financing, of course, so you can purchase the house. But even when the deal has been done already, you can still back out as most states allow a 5-day cooling off period. Should you decide to back out, expect a 0.25% penalty though.