How I did it: The three months does not include the time it took to save the money for the down payment. I contributed a small fraction of that. My husband saved for about 5 years for that chunk of money. But once we decided we were ready we called on a couple houses posted on online realestate sites. Through sheer luck we got hooked up with  a GREAT realtor. We told her exactly what we were looking for and she helped us find it. It really was as simple as that.

Lessons & tips: Try to save as much as you can for your down payment. Know your price points in your area. Find out what price bracket is selling the quickest and buy that, especially if you can forsee moving out within 5 years. -Even if you can afford something more expensive. If you know you're going to stay where you are for a long, long time buy the price point that's taken the biggest hit. In my area that's upwards of $160,000. You can get great deals on houses that are around $200,000 that were previously selling for much more. -If you can afford this, of course.

Resources: A great realtor is a must. She really was our most valuable resource. She helped us decide how much we were going to spend by providing us information about the market in our area.

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Aug 27, 2009, 08:58AM PDT | 0 comments | 1 cheer