Videos & reading, curated by stage
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Curated videos on every stage of buying or selling a home, plus a What you should know deep-dive under each category so you can talk about each phase intelligently, facts, common mistakes, and questions to ask your agent or lender.
Getting Started
Understand the home-buying process before you start looking.
Home Mortgages 101 (For First-Time Home Buyers)
A 20-minute deep dive on how mortgages actually work. Conventional vs FHA vs VA, PMI, escrow, the full vocabulary you need before talking to a lender.
Marko - WhiteBoard Finance · 19:43
How To Buy A House (Step by Step)
A clear end-to-end walkthrough of the home buying process. Save, get preapproved, shop, offer, contract, close. Independent and ad-free.
Marko - WhiteBoard Finance · 16:37
Dave Ramsey's 7 Tips For First-Time Home Buyers
A 5-minute recap of the biggest first-time buyer principles: budget hard, avoid PMI when you can, and never let your house payment crowd out the rest of your life.
The Ramsey Show Highlights · 5:21
📖 Further reading
Owning a Home: Buying a Home Toolkit
The federal government's free, comprehensive guide to the home buying process. Covers preparation, loan options, comparing offers, and closing. Trustworthy, no upsells.
Read article →A 10-Point Checklist All First-Time Homebuyers Should Follow
A 10-step prep guide covering financial assessment, credit review, debt-to-income, savings targets for down payment + closing costs, and the documentation buyers need to gather before pre-approval.
Read article →Choosing a Lender
Where you get your mortgage matters more than most buyers realize.
Should You Get A Mortgage From A Bank Or A Mortgage Broker?
A quick honest answer to the bank-vs-broker question, with the gotchas of each path. Watch this before you let your agent recommend a lender.
The Ramsey Show Highlights · 6:36
How Loan Officers TRICK YOU (and How to Prevent It)
Kyle Seagraves walks through the most common bait-and-switch tactics lenders use: rate quotes that don't include points, hidden fees, and what to look for on your Loan Estimate to spot them.
Win The House You Love · 11:34
These Mortgage Mistakes Could Cost You Thousands
A long-form session on the most expensive mortgage mistakes first-time buyers make, with practical guidance on how to avoid each.
The Ramsey Show Highlights · 31:13
📖 Further reading
Loan Estimate Explained
Section-by-section walkthrough of the official Loan Estimate form. Required reading before comparing lender quotes, this shows you exactly what each line means.
Read article →How to Compare Mortgage Loan Estimates
Walks through all three pages of the standardized Loan Estimate form and explains how to compare lender quotes apples-to-apples. Cites Freddie Mac data showing 4 quotes can save up to $1,200/year.
Read article →House Hunting
Finding the right home and the right team.
How an Agent Should Show a Buyer a House
What a good buyer's agent actually does on a tour, and what to expect from the relationship. Use this to gauge whether your agent is doing their job.
Zach Taylor Real Estate · 12:32
NEVER Say This to Your Real Estate Agent When Buying a Home!
Things buyers commonly say that hurt their negotiating position with their own agent. A solid primer on the misaligned-incentive parts of the buyer-agent relationship.
Jackie Baker · 9:39
10 Questions to Ask Your Real Estate Agent When Buying a House
A specific 10-question interview script for any agent you are considering hiring. Helps you compare agents apples-to-apples instead of going with whoever sounds nicest.
Matt Leighton · 13:09
📖 Further reading
Buying a Home
Federal home buyer resource hub. Includes shopping for homes, fair-housing rights, and access to HUD-approved housing counselors who advise for free.
Read article →Consumer Guide: Ten Questions to Ask a Buyer's Agent
Ten specific vetting questions covering credentials, services, market knowledge, written buyer-rep agreement terms, and the fact that compensation is fully negotiable. Authoritative source for the post-NAR-settlement landscape.
Read article →Making an Offer
Writing offers, contingencies, and negotiation.
Buying a Home in 3 Months? Here's Your Gameplan
Kyle Seagraves maps out a 90-day buying timeline with specific actions per week. The offer-writing and negotiation sections are the most useful parts of the video.
Win The House You Love · 23:29
What Home Buyers Need To Know About Contingency Clauses
A clear breakdown of the four contingencies that show up in most contracts (financing, inspection, appraisal, sale-of-current-home) and what each protects you from.
Rocket Learn · 6:18
Earnest Money: Your Secret Weapon In Home Buying
How earnest money actually works, when you forfeit it, and how to use it strategically in competitive markets. Short and direct.
Rocket Learn · 4:46
📖 Further reading
How to Win a Bidding War on a House
Eight tactics for competitive offers: preapproval, above-ask pricing, larger earnest money, contingency strategy, and timing flexibility, with the explicit warning not to win the battle by losing the war.
Read article →How to Make a Contingent Offer to Buy a Home
Breaks down the inspection, appraisal, and mortgage contingencies one by one and explains exactly what each protects you from, including being stuck with major repairs, paying an appraisal gap in cash, or losing earnest money if financing falls through.
Read article →Under Contract
The 30–45 days between accepted offer and closing.
Deal Breakers When Buying a Home
A pro contractor walks through the inspection findings that should make you walk away vs. negotiate. Foundation, structure, electrical, mold: the real big-money stuff.
This Old House · 7:19
Performing a Home Inspection (with InterNACHI Certified Inspector)
Hour-long ride-along with a certified home inspector. Long, but the gold standard if you want to see exactly what an inspector looks at and why.
InterNACHI · 1:05:00
The Truth About Home Inspection Reports (What They Leave Out)
A carpenter explains the gaps in standard home inspection reports: things inspectors are not required to flag but you should look for yourself.
The Honest Carpenter · 10:03
📖 Further reading
Home Inspection Checklist: What Do Home Inspectors Look For?
Walks through the ASHI 12-point inspection standard (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roof, attic, foundation, structural, etc.), what inspectors prioritize, and how to read a report by focusing on severity rather than quantity.
Read article →How to Deal With an Appraisal Gap as a Home Buyer
Lays out the buyer's options when an appraisal comes in low: reduce down payment percentage, pay the gap in cash, renegotiate the price with the seller, use an appraisal gap clause, or terminate the contract.
Read article →Closing
The final stretch, from clear-to-close to keys in hand.
How Much Are Mortgage Closing Costs? The Complete Guide
Kyle Seagraves itemizes every closing cost line by line, with what is negotiable, what is not, and what you can shop around for.
Win The House You Love · 24:08
Closing Disclosures And Loan Estimates Explained
A short side-by-side primer on the LE and CD documents. Watch this before you use the LE-vs-CD compare tool on /compare.
Rocket Learn · 7:09
What Happens On Closing Day?
A walkthrough of the closing day timeline so nothing surprises you. Where you sit, who is in the room, what you sign, and how long it actually takes.
Win The House You Love · 6:38
📖 Further reading
Closing Disclosure Explained
Page-by-page walkthrough of the official Closing Disclosure form. Use this alongside our LE-vs-CD compare tool to know what every line means before you sign.
Read article →Mortgage Closing Scams: How to Protect Yourself and Your Closing Funds
Federal guidance on closing wire fraud, how phishing scams divert closing funds, the verification protocol (identify two trusted contacts, never trust emailed wire instructions, confirm by phone), and what to do in the first 24 hours if you've been hit.
Read article →After Closing
First-year homeowner basics.
What To Do After Closing on a Home (Top 10 + How to Avoid Getting Scammed)
A direct post-closing playbook: what to do in the first weeks after the keys are yours, plus the most common scams that target new homeowners (warranty pitches, refinance bait, fake utility calls).
Shaheedah Hill · 9:45
📖 Further reading
Your First Year as a Homeowner: a Month-by-Month Checklist
A practical week-by-week, month-by-month playbook for the first 12 months after closing. Homestead exemption deadlines, escrow shock prevention, maintenance rhythms, PMI removal, and the pitches to ignore.
Read article →How to Calculate the Break-Even Point on a Mortgage Refinance
A three-step break-even formula (tally fees, calculate monthly savings, divide), plus the specific scenarios where refinancing isn't worth it even when rates drop: short holding period, extending your loan term, or break-even longer than you plan to stay.
Read article →Video selections are editorial picks. We don't accept payment for inclusion.