Buying

buying Home Buying 101

Here is a comprehensive look at home buying: everything you wanted to know about purchasing a home and ideas on how to make it easy to achieve your dream.

Thinking About Buying A Home:

  • Rent vs. Buy: Should you buy a home now?  Here are the rewards and tradeoffs of homeownership.
  • Home Counseling Centers: Sure you want to buy a home someday and you want to work with someone to develop a plan?

Getting Your Finances In Order:

  • Budgeting for a House: A worksheet to help figure out how much you spend
  • Credit: How it’s scored, what the reports mean, and what you can do if you have little or no credit history.
  • Required Documentation: A checklist of what you’ll need to have available throughout the process

Developing a Plan:

  • How Much Can You Afford? Some quick calculations to help you figure out your buying power (it’s probably more than you think!), and how the numbers are used.
  • Down Payments: How much do you really need for a down payment?  What are the best ways to save for it?
  • Closing/Settlement Costs: What are they?  Who pays them?  Why are they important?

Applying For A Mortgage:

You should have at least a Prequalification, and better yet, a Preapproval, before even talking to an agent or looking at house.

How to find the right combination for you. Fixed vs. ARMs, PMI and APRs: the alphabet soup of mortgages:

  • Mortgage 101
  • Info on:
    • Lenders
    • Government Agencies
    • Types of Loans
    • Rates 

Finding an Agent:

An experienced agent can help you through the process.  How do you find a good one who will serve your best interests? 

  • How Agents Work: how they get paid and what that means for you
  • Determining Your Specific Needs
  • Agent Interview Checklist: a list of questions to help you find a good match

Finding The Perfect Home:

What features do you really want?  Is closet space more important to you than proximity to good schools?

  • The Perfect Home Checklist: which features are most important to you and anyone else who will live in the home?
  • Comparable Sales: check out recent sales in the neighborhoods you are interested in to see how houses are priced

When Your Offer Is Accepted:

A lot of people and reports suddenly show up.  Who are they, and why do you need them?

  • Inspections
  • Appraisals 
  • Home Warranties
  • Escrow Accounts
  • Home Insurance
  • Title

Print this Page