Buying Guide: Choosing Your New Home!

When we went searching for a home to buy two years ago, I thought it would be a long and difficult process. I had heard horror stories of canceled closings, looking for the right house for months, finding the dream home and then finding out that something dire was wrong with it and so on. We were very lucky and found our dream home the very day that we started looking. The realtor didn't suggest it; I had found it online and asked to see it.

So that brings us to the first step in a buying guide for a home. Check the local realtors online to see what's available. I always thought that if a home is listed with an agency, that's who needs to be contacted for the sale but it just isn't like that. I am not certain it is the same in all locations, but in this area, it worked great for me.

Find a few homes and take note of the addresses and the major things that are listed online. It will save you a lot of time to know that a certain home has two bedrooms if you need three or more. If you have bad knees or a bad back and need to have your laundry area on the first floor, why waste time looking at houses with basement hookups?

Drive through the neighborhoods of your top choices in homes, too. There may be things you see in the area that you wouldn't notice on the day you're there with the realtor. Try to find out from others how safe your prospective new neighborhood is.

Many people prefer looking for owner-sold homes and choose not to go through a realtor at all. I would not have done it this way but I find that I'm rather paranoid about some matters, so while I might think something would go wrong with this kind of transaction, it may go fine. I wouldn't do it without a lawyer, however.

Before you start actually looking for a home to buy, make sure that your finances are in order. Your mortgage lender will definitely be checking your credit rating, too. Find out what kind of loans you qualify for and how much of a down payment you are likely to need. If you take a little time for researching things like this, you may be preventing a big disappointment later when you think you found your dream home and then some surprise roadblock comes up that prevents the purchase.