How I did it: I saved up for a long time, found a good real estate agent who showed me a place I liked, and I got it.  Really pretty straightforward.  I also spent a lot of time researching where I wanted to live, what I wanted in a house, how much I wanted to spend and things like that, which gave me a good idea of what I was looking for in a house.

Lessons & tips: Watch interest rates carefully, or get a good loan guy and have him do it for you.  You want to get the lowest rate you can, so you can pay less over the life of the loan.  If you seen rates are going down, wait.  If they are going up, lock in a rate ASAP.  Also, if you can save up 20% for a down payment, then you can avoid having to pay more in the form of mortgage insurance, etc.  The other thing to keep in mind is that in addition to your mortgage payment, you will also be paying taxes and homeowners' insurance.  These will add up to an extra few hundred a month, so when you are trying to figure how much you can afford, or how much you want your monthly payment to be, take these into consideration, because once you get that loan, thats what you are going to be paying for a LONG time to come.  Keep in mind you will not want to pay the absolute max you can at the beginning.  Leave yourself some wiggle room for repairs and so that you can put extra money toward the principal at the beginning of the loan.  I dont know the exact numbers, but for mine, every dollar extra I pay toward the principal counts as like $4 paid toward the principal, taken from the last month of the loan.  By paying extra like this, you can shorten the life of the loan and also you will end up paying less by the time the house is paid in full.

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Feb 06, 2011, 10:06AM PST | 0 comments | 7 cheers