The First-Time Homebuyer Checklist Bundle — Free Printable Checklists for Florida

The problem

The first purchase isn't hard because it's complicated. It's hard because nobody tells you the order.

Open a new credit card the week before closing and the loan dies. Find out about the flood zone during inspection instead of before the offer. Wire your closing funds to a number that came from an email. None of that is complicated — it's just the stuff nobody wrote down for you.

What it costs to get wrong: a deposit at risk, a week lost in underwriting over one missing bank statement, or a monthly payment that didn't include taxes, insurance, HOA and CDD.

There's a better way: a checklist for each stage, in order, that you can print, tick off and bring with you. It's the framework I use with my own first-time buyers — nothing more, nothing less.

What's inside, by the numbers

4Printable checklists — mortgage prep, house hunting and offers, inspection day, closing week

$51,411Florida homestead exemption for 2026 — and the March 1 deadline to file it

51 of 67Florida counties where insurance rates decreased in 2026 — the good news nobody is telling

Homestead figure from the Pinellas County Property Appraiser (2026); insurance from Florida OIR rate reporting, July 2026.

What's inside

Seven pages. Print it, tick it off, bring it with you.

Checklist 1 — Mortgage prep and financial readiness — credit, savings and income, the loan programs to ask about, and pre-approval versus pre-qualification
Checklist 2 — House hunting and making an offer — before you tour, during tours, and the offer itself, including seller concessions by loan type
Checklist 3 — Inspection day — before the inspector arrives, what they cover, and what to do with the report

Checklist 4 — Closing week — the Closing Disclosure, the wire-fraud rule, the final walk-through, closing day and after
Florida-specific things that catch first-time buyers — insurance, flood, CDD versus HOA, the 2026 condo law and Amendment 3
The programs worth asking about — VA, FHA, conventional, Florida Hometown Heroes and Homes for Heroes

Why it's worth more than free: no made-up dollar ranges — the old version's unsourced repair and inspection figures were cut on purpose. Every number that's left carries a source and a date, and the rest tells you what to ask instead of guessing from a PDF.

About Garrett

I've had orders, I've used the benefit, and I can write your loan

I'm Garrett Decker — Marine Corps disabled combat veteran, former wildland firefighter and sheriff's deputy. I'm a licensed Florida Broker Associate and a licensed Mortgage Loan Originator with FLO Mortgage, and I hold the National Association of REALTORS® Military Relocation Professional certification. My brokerage is Navy To Navy Homes, which was named Homes for Heroes 2026 Real Estate Specialist Team — #1 in Florida and #2 nationwide. The Decker Group is part of that program.

One person handles the house and the loan, so nothing gets lost between two offices. For a VA buyer on a PCS clock, that's often the difference between closing on time and not. And the mortgage side is always your choice — never a condition of working with me.

Why I'm qualified: licensed since November 2019, 180+ homes sold, #6 by volume in Palm Coast in 2025 (RealTrends Verified), 2022 REALTOR® of the Year for Flagler County, 96 verified reviews at 4.9 stars.

My process

Straight answer first.

What you can actually afford — not the maximum a lender will allow — and whether buying makes sense right now, before we tour anything.

The whole number before the search.

Mortgage, taxes, insurance, flood, HOA and CDD — run against your real budget, not the app's guess. In Florida those pieces are not small.

Every date tracked.

Pre-approval, offer, inspection, appraisal, clear to close — one timeline, and you'll know what's happening before it happens.

Why work with Garrett

What working with me actually gets you

One person for the house and the loan.

The number I show you before we tour is the number I'd underwrite — not a handoff to somebody else's spreadsheet.

The funding fee exemption, checked first.

Because I carry a rating myself, I ask about it on the first call. If nobody has asked you, that's your sign.

Fully remote if you're still out of state.

Whole transactions handled while you're at your current duty station — video tours, remote signing, one timeline.

I've sat on the builder's side.

If you go new construction, I know what incentives are really on the table and where the contract protects the builder.

Both hero programs, as an approved vendor.

Florida Hometown Heroes and Homes for Heroes through Navy To Navy Homes. Whether you qualify is the program's decision — I'll check and tell you either way.

I answer.

Eleven separate clients across six years have said the same thing in writing: after hours, weekends, across time zones.

Proof

People who bought without the drama

"Garrett and his wife were the absolute BEST Real Estate agents. They took great care of us and their follow through was outstanding (especially since we're not in the State just yet). Service like that was extraordinary, to say the least."

Buyer, out of state · 2026

"He was always prepared and ready to do whatever and whenever something came up that needed to be done or checked into. He also always responded immediately, and I called him often, after hours, weekends."

Buyer · 2025

"Garrett was instrumental in getting our designing our custom home and as our lender he was our advocate in getting closed while dealing with adversity from the builder."

Buyer, new construction · 2025 · Garrett acted as both agent and loan originator, disclosed

Buying your first home in Florida? Here's the checklist I use with my own clients.