Business · Arizona
Phoenix first-time buyers should start a year out with a loan officer, broker Will Carter says
Will Carter told the Phoenix Business Brief that buyers under 30 are closing this year, and that the earlier they map goals with an agent and a lender, the better their rate can be.
Nov 13, 2026
Young Phoenix-area buyers who assume homeownership is out of reach should start planning as much as a year ahead, longtime broker Will Carter said on the Phoenix Business Brief podcast.
Carter, of the Will Carter Team at Real Broker, said he has worked with "first-time homebuyers that are under 30 years old, some of them under 25 years old" this year who doubted they could ever buy. "And we showed them how they could have a plan, create the plan, follow the plan," he said.
His suggested sequence starts with an agent. "Let's sit down and understand what you want to do, what you want to accomplish," Carter said, along with a timeframe. "And even if we're a year out, I'm going to say, okay, now what we should do is we should talk to a loan officer, tell them what we're trying to accomplish, and let's see where you're at."
A lender may say a buyer is ready now, or may point to changes that would help, he said: "If you did this, this, and this over the next 3 months, you'll be in a better position to have a better interest rate."
"The earlier you start, you really can start putting pieces in place and really put yourself in the best position possible," Carter said.
He pointed to a recent client as proof. "I just had one 28-year-old single guy, has a good job, he just bought his first house on his own, his own down payment, his own closing costs, and we got him closed last month," Carter said. The buyer started out unsure it was possible, he said, and "it literally took 45 days."
For buyers who aren't ready yet, Carter said the answer is still a plan. "It might not be a way that you could do it today, but we got to make a plan. So a year from now, maybe you're in that position," he said.
First-time buyers are "probably my favorite client to work with because they're so excited. And they're so nervous," Carter said.
Hear Will Carter's full Phoenix Business Brief interview on first-time buyers and Phoenix market myths.