View Single Post
Naderfan
Queen of Confrontation
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ohio
 
2007-03-14, 22:42

Check out www.zillow.com It lets you get details about houses in certain ares (it's not a complete map, and mostly has urban areas). It should at least give you a rough idea of what houses around the area you're looking for cost.

As for mortgages, make sure you aren't taking any of those high-risk loans. Do a regular, fixed-rate deal. Also ask about First Homeowner loans. They're part of a government program to help first-time homebuyers. My husband and I qualified for one and instead of an interest rate of around 6 percent, we got it for 4.99%. Very helpful.

Also, you want to put down as much as possible for a down payment. If you can scrounge up 20%, then you avoid PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance). But if you can't, that's ok too.

Other than that, I don't have much advice...we bought our house from my husband's grandparents, so I don't know much about the actual search process. However, once you get close to the point of actually buying, I'd recommend either getting a realtor or an attorney to help with all the paperwork. I hope some of that helps. Good luck! And remember to be patient. The mortgage process especially can take forever.
  quote