| There are two key activities in which you have to | | | | or city and see an aerial map, move the map around, |
| engage when planning to buy a home. First, searching | | | | zoom in, and be shown an estimated value for every |
| for and picking the house you want to buy. Second, | | | | home on a street. When you see a house you're |
| securing the money to buy your dream home. | | | | curious about, you can select it and see a photo taken |
| Let's start with finding a home. You may already know | | | | from the ground as well as information such as square |
| the neighborhood you want to move to, but if not, | | | | footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, when |
| there are great tools on the Internet to help you decide | | | | the home was built, the size of the property, what type |
| where to move. Just search for "city profile" or | | | | of roof it has (shake, asphalt, etc), etc. |
| "neighborhood profile" in a search engine and you'll find | | | | Searching for a home as described above may mean |
| a site that can give you valuable information. For | | | | falling in love with a house that isn't currently for sale. If |
| example, you'll be able to find out about a city's | | | | this happens, you might approach the owners and |
| population, median age and income, unemployment | | | | make an offer. A better method might be to search |
| rate, percentage of population that are Democrats or | | | | first for homes that are for sale, and once you have |
| Republicans, median home values, teacher-to-student | | | | found one, use an Internet valuation tool to see if the |
| ratios, demographic make up, information about the | | | | home's price is close to the estimated value and in line |
| climate, overview of the crime in the area, air and | | | | with the value of neighboring homes. There are various |
| water quality, sales and income tax for the city, and | | | | websites that show homes for sale. A savvy shopper |
| even information about religion. | | | | can use these sites in conjunction with a real estate |
| Once you know the city where you'd like to live, it's | | | | agent. |
| important to know how much home you can afford to | | | | After finding the home you want to move into, you'll |
| purchase. While how much debt you're comfortable | | | | most likely need to obtain a mortgage loan. Choosing |
| with might be different than somebody else, there are | | | | the right loan from the right lender is extremely |
| also objective factors that determine the amount of | | | | important because of the huge amount of money |
| money you might be able to borrow. These factors | | | | you're dealing with. When evaluating lenders, consider |
| include your income, your credit score, and how much | | | | how quickly they can close your loan, how many |
| debt you have. There are free mortgage calculators | | | | different types of loan programs they have, how |
| on the Internet that can help you get an idea of the | | | | competitive their rates are, and how convenient they |
| maximum loan amount you might receive, what your | | | | are. For example, will you have to drive somewhere to |
| monthly payment might be (an important figure to | | | | sign the final documents, or will the lender send the |
| know!), whether it's better to rent or buy, and how | | | | notary to your home or office? Will you be able to |
| much you could save by making extra payments. | | | | upload supporting documents over the lender's secure |
| Now that you have an idea of where you want to | | | | system or will you have to spend money to mail the |
| move to and about how much you can spend on a | | | | documents? |
| home, you need to find houses that are both in your | | | | The tools mentioned above will assist you in finding |
| desired neighborhood and in the price range you want. | | | | homes for sale, learning home values, researching |
| The Internet has websites where you can type in a | | | | cities, calculating how much you can afford, and finding |
| specific address and get an estimated value of your | | | | the best mortgage lender. Much success to you in |
| desired home. Alternatively, you could enter a zip code | | | | your move! |