Your first-time home buyer FAQ for Louisville, KY.

It depends on the loan, not on some universal rule. Conventional loans can start around 3% down, FHA loans around 3.5%, and VA or USDA loans can require $0 down for eligible buyers. Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC) also offers down payment assistance on top of an eligible first mortgage. The right number for you depends on your loan program, credit, and the home price, so I always connect first-time buyers with a lender early to get exact figures before we start touring homes.

Minimums vary by loan type — FHA loans commonly allow scores in the 580–620 range, while conventional and KHC-assisted loans often look for 620–660 or higher. Your rate and terms usually improve as your score climbs, even above the minimum. If your score isn't where you want it yet, a good lender can often give you a specific, actionable plan to raise it before you buy.

Pre-qualification is a quick, informal estimate based on numbers you self-report — it's a starting point, not a commitment. Pre-approval means a lender has actually verified your income, credit, and assets and issued a conditional letter stating what they're prepared to lend you. In Louisville's market, sellers expect a pre-approval letter with your offer, not just a pre-qualification, so this is usually the first real step I help clients take.

Yes. Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC) runs several programs that pair affordable first mortgages with down payment and closing cost assistance, and the Louisville Metro area has its own local assistance options as well. Program details, income limits, and purchase price caps change and vary by county, so I point clients to KHC's official site and a KHC-approved lender to confirm exactly what they qualify for before we build a home search around it.

In most transactions, buyer's agent compensation is negotiated as part of the deal rather than paid out-of-pocket by the buyer at closing, though the exact structure can vary by transaction and is something we'll always put in writing up front. Either way, having your own dedicated representation costs you far less than the mistakes that come from not having any.

Closing costs are the fees beyond your down payment — things like loan origination, appraisal, title insurance, recording fees, and prepaid items like homeowners insurance and property taxes. As a rough starting point, buyers often budget somewhere around 2–5% of the purchase price, but your lender will give you an itemized Loan Estimate early in the process so there are no surprises at the closing table.

Earnest money is a good-faith deposit you put down when your offer is accepted, showing the seller you're serious. It's held in escrow and applied toward your down payment or closing costs at closing — it isn't an extra cost. If you back out of the deal for a reason covered by your contract's contingencies (financing, inspection, appraisal), you typically get it back. If you walk away outside those protections, you can risk losing it, which is exactly why we build the right contingencies into your offer from the start.

After your offer is accepted, you'll typically have a set window to hire a licensed inspector to walk the property and flag issues with the roof, foundation, systems, and more. If something significant turns up, you can usually ask the seller to make repairs, credit you money at closing, adjust the price, or in some cases walk away from the deal entirely — depending on how your contract is written. This is one of the moments where having an agent who negotiates this specific situation regularly makes a real difference. See a real inspection negotiation story →

Once you're under contract, most financed purchases in the Louisville area close in roughly 30–45 days, depending on your lender, the loan type, and how quickly appraisal and underwriting move. Cash purchases can close much faster. The house-hunting phase before that varies a lot person to person — some buyers find the right home in a few weekends, others take a few months.

There's no magic number. Some first-time buyers know it when they see it in the first few showings; others want to see a dozen or more homes to calibrate what they actually want versus what sounded good on paper. My job is to help you get clear on your must-haves early so we're not wasting weekends on homes that were never going to work.

Beyond the home itself, I walk first-time buyers through commute times, school districts if relevant, planned development nearby, flood zones, HOA rules if any, and how a neighborhood's price trends have moved over the last few years. Louisville has a wide range of character block to block, so a short conversation about your day-to-day life usually narrows the search fast.