Buying a house ...

[adpi*violet]

Just purchased our first house last fall, closed December 28th, and moved in New Years' Day. So far, (in these past 3-4 months) we still love it. It is new construction, purchased directly from the home builder.
Tips:
For price range – determine how much you can spend per month for a mortgage payment, up to a max amount, depending on your particular budget. Add in any money available for a down payment. Keep in mind that closing costs, monthly home insurance and taxes will be part of your full mortgage amount and monthly payment.
We had a basic idea going into our house hunt, but our realtor also helped us get into a more expensive house then we originally thought we could afford due to negotiations which brought down our mortgage rate.
The other thing to determine your price range before you even start looking is to look around at various lenders to see the current interests rates as that will affect your per month payment. If you find a preferred lender, look at their max rate and pad it a bit, in case it goes up before you are ready to buy/ close. If you don’t have a preferred lender, take a look around at the rates and get an average one, but again pad it a bit.

Next bit of advice- sit down and make your dream list of what you want in a house- either rank it in order of your preference, or put the things you want in categories, like “must have”, “want to have”, “would like to have”. This is very important! For example on our must have was 3 bedrooms plus an office. Want to have was a separate tub and shower. Would like to have was a 3 car garage.
Also- in that dream list, you should include areas (cities/ neighborhoods) you are looking in. Have a few that would be ideal and a few that would work, but then also know where you absolutely do not want to look. Many things will go into the area you are looking at- even if you don't have kids, you may want to consider school district/ individual schools for future re-sale value.

Next- find a buyers agent. Ask for recommendations from your friends/ co-workers. It’s fine to look on your own at the MLS listings out there, just to get an idea, but the house we ended up with was not actually advertised on the MLS listings. It was an “inside deal” where the company contacted our agent and asked if she had any clients looking for the type of houses they had. So by having an agent, you will have access to more houses and they will be tailored more to your wants and needs.

If you decide to go with a new home- check out the builder to make sure they are a reputable company- BBB, etc. For both an older home and newer home, I third the motion to get an independent home inspector to do the inspection- not one provided by either the seller or even your agent. Find your own and make sure s/he is licensed.

Hope that helps!