Also congrats! And have fun! It’s exciting and nothing to stress about.🤙🤙

Once you find a house u live and your offer is accepted you’ll usually have a home inspections depending on the terms of the contract. The home inspection is basically a tutorial on how to care for your home while also making sure it’s in proper condition and no major issues. As far as advice goes I’m a realtor and it can be very frustrating for buyers in this market. But be patient and it will all work out in the end. When you find the house you love and want, not to sound corny, but you’ll feel it. It will feel like home. Kind of like staying the night at a friends compared to your home now. Look for comfort.

Application fees usually cover the cost to run a credit check. It’s called a application fee but it’s just the cost of the company’s fee realtors and landlords use to run credit score checks. I forget the name of it.

Usually realtor charge one months rent. It is up to the landlord if he or the tenant is to pay the fee. In your case the tenant is to pay. You can always ask to split it. I’m a realtor in Boston but don’t really do rentals but sounds standard. Now if the agents name was tom smith from All star real estate and they asked you to write the check out to tom smith not all star real estate then that would be weird. It’s always written out to the brokerage ( ex. Coldwell banker). Quick google search should help verify the agent.