Buyer’s Guide

A First Time Home Buyer Indiana Guide

Eight steps, in order, in plain words. Written for people buying their first house in Central Indiana, and useful if it is your fourth.

Before you start

Most of what goes wrong in a purchase goes wrong early

Not at closing. Early, when someone skipped a step because it felt like paperwork. A large share of Jennifer’s clients are a first time home buyer in Indiana buying their first house, and the ABR designation she holds is the buy-side credential for precisely this work.

first time home buyer indiana: Step 1, carry what you can

Work out what you can actually carry

Not what a lender approves, but what you are comfortable paying every month once taxes and insurance are inside the payment. Indiana property tax rates change at every county line Jennifer works, so the same purchase price carries differently in Johnson County than it does in Rush County. Ask specifically whether the tax figure you are quoted reflects the homestead deduction, because listings often show the seller’s rate rather than yours. Build in the maintenance a first house actually needs, not the number that makes the budget work on paper.

Get properly pre-approved

Pre-qualified and pre-approved are not the same thing, and sellers in this market know the difference. Pre-qualification is a conversation; pre-approval means a lender has pulled your credit, read your income documents and put a real number behind your offer. That distinction is what makes you credible when two offers land the same afternoon in Greenwood or Franklin. Talk to more than one lender, compare the rate and the fees together, and do it before you fall for a house rather than after.

first time home buyer indiana: Step 2, pre approval

first time home buyer indiana: Step 3, choose your town

Narrow the towns before the houses

Nine towns, and they do not price alike. Tax rates, school corporations, commute times and price per square foot all shift as you cross county lines, and they do not shift gradually. Two houses fifteen minutes apart can sit in different counties with different rates and different assessment cycles, which changes your payment without changing the purchase price. Decide the geography first and the house search gets dramatically shorter. The communities page takes all nine one at a time.

Set up a search that actually runs

Listings along the I-65 corridor move quickly, and the well-priced ones do not wait for a weekend. A saved search built on criteria that actually matter to you, including county, lot size and tax band rather than just price and beds, emails you as homes list instead of after they are gone. In the faster towns that is the difference between seeing a house and hearing about it. Jennifer sets these up properly, and you can start on the home search page.

first time home buyer indiana: Step 4, listings

See houses in person, in daylight

Photographs flatter, and wide-angle lenses lie about room size. Jennifer walks the property with you and points at the things that cost money later: the roof line, the grade running away from the foundation, the electrical panel, the crawl space and what the basement smells like. In a market of largely older stock, what a house has had done to it over forty years matters more than the year it was built. Go back a second time at a different hour before you write.

Write an offer that fits the situation

Price is one term out of many. Closing date, inspection window, financing type, earnest money and what conveys with the house are all negotiable, and in a thin-comp market the non-price terms are frequently what wins. A seller who needs three extra weeks will take a lower number from the buyer who gives them. The point is not to win the house, it is to win the right house on terms you will still feel good about in ten years.

first time home buyer indiana: Step 6, write offer

first time home buyer indiana: Step 7, Inspection

Inspection, appraisal, and the part people dread

The inspection finds things. It always finds things, on every house, including new construction. The job is separating a bargaining item from a walk-away, and Jennifer will tell you plainly which one you are looking at rather than leaving you to guess. Attend it if you can, because an hour with the inspector teaches you more about the house than the report will. If the appraisal comes in under contract price, that is a negotiation, not the end.

Close, and get the keys

Your closing disclosure arrives three days before signing, and that window exists so you can actually read it. Jennifer walks it line by line with you beforehand, because you should know every number on that sheet before it is in front of you rather than while a pen is in your hand. Do the final walkthrough the same day, confirm agreed repairs were done and that what conveys is still in the house. Then you sign, and the keys are yours.

first time home buyer indiana: Step 8, Closing

What you get

Four things she does that are not optional

Answers the phone

She is solo by choice. The person you call is the person negotiating your contract, not an assistant you have not met.

Explains before you sign

Contracts, disclosures and the closing statement get walked through in plain words ahead of time, not slid across a table.

Tells you when to walk

If the inspection turns up something that is not worth it, you will hear that. She would rather lose a commission than sell you a problem.

Knows the streets

Which block floods, which builder finishes on time, what is about to be built behind the tree line. That is what the civic work buys you.

Military relocation

Camp Atterbury is next door, so PCS moves are routine here

Camp Atterbury sits just outside Edinburgh and Franklin, two of the nine towns Jennifer works. That makes military relocation a regular part of the practice rather than an occasional file, and it is why she carries the MRP designation.

What it covers in practice: VA loan timelines that do not match civilian ones, orders that land in the middle of a contract, and buying a house you have only seen on video from another state. If that is your situation, say so on the first call and the process gets built around it.

A service member arriving home to her children and husband outside their house, representing the military relocation help that runs alongside Jennifer Andrews' first time home buyer Indiana guide.

Frequently asked

Buying in Central Indiana

How much do I need for a down payment in Indiana?

Less than most people assume. Conventional loans start around 3% down for qualified buyers, FHA around 3.5%, and both USDA and VA can reach zero down. Large parts of Rush and Decatur counties fall inside USDA-eligible areas, which surprises people. The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority also runs first-time buyer programmes worth checking before you assume you cannot buy.

What are closing costs actually going to be?

Budget roughly 2% to 5% of the purchase price, covering lender fees, title work, recording, prepaid taxes and insurance. In Indiana the seller commonly covers owner’s title insurance, but that is negotiable rather than automatic. Jennifer gives you a written estimate before you write the offer, not at closing.

Do I need a buyer’s agent if the listing agent can just show me?

The listing agent works for the seller. That is their legal duty and it does not change because they are friendly. A buyer’s agent owes those duties to you. The ABR designation Jennifer holds is specifically the buy-side credential, and buyer representation agreements now spell out compensation in writing before you tour anything.

How fast do houses move in these towns?

It depends entirely on which town. Greenwood and Franklin, both on the I-65 corridor, move fast, and correctly priced homes there often see offers within days. Push east to Rushville or Greensburg and the pace slows considerably. That difference is one reason the communities page treats each town separately.

What if I am buying from out of state?

Common here, particularly with Camp Atterbury nearby. Jennifer runs video walkthroughs, sends detail shots of the things photos hide, and can represent you through inspection and closing without you flying in twice. The MRP designation exists for exactly this.

Should I buy before I sell?

Depends on your equity and your risk tolerance, and it is a real conversation rather than a formula. If you need the proceeds from your current house to buy the next one, the sequencing matters enormously. Start with a valuation so you know the number you are working with.

Featured listings

Current homes on the market across the nine towns, straight from MIBOR. Browse everything on the home search page.

$130,000

602 W Franklin Street Shelbyville, Indiana

2 Beds 1 Bath 1,428 SqFt 0.09 Acres

$180,000

403 E Washington Street Greensburg, Indiana

3 Beds 2 Baths 2,532 SqFt 0.15 Acres

$224,900

2141 Galaxy Drive Franklin, Indiana

2 Beds 2 Baths 1,085 SqFt 0.15 Acres

$240,000

304 W 4th Street Greenfield, Indiana

3 Beds 2 Baths 1,600 SqFt 0.22 Acres

$349,900

253 Switchgrass Whiteland, Indiana

5 Beds 4 Baths 2,455 SqFt 0.22 Acres

$244,900

60 SW Wrenn Parkway Greensburg, Indiana

3 Beds 2 Baths 1,176 SqFt 0.38 Acres

$399,900

237 Briar Creek Lane Whiteland, Indiana

4 Beds 3 Baths 3,516 SqFt 0.35 Acres

$549,500

7554 E State Road 44 Shelbyville, Indiana

4 Beds 3 Baths 5,730 SqFt 10.29 Acres

View all listings across the nine towns →

Selling too

Most buyers here are also sellers

If you need to sell before you buy, the sequencing decides everything. The seller’s guide covers pricing in a thin-comp market and what she does to market a house.

Seller’s Guide

Programs and benefits worth checking

Indiana Housing first-time buyer programs

Down-payment assistance and mortgage credit certificates from the state housing authority.

VA home loan benefits

Entitlement, funding fees and the appraisal process, straight from the VA.

Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs

State-level benefits for service members relocating to or from Camp Atterbury.