Research
For as long as we've been married, I wanted us to have a place of our own. The problem is that we had nothing to start out with. We had no money saved, no idea about how to start or what was needed to go from renting to buying. That's when I started my research. It was casual research, at best.
I started reading the home sections in the local newspaper, The Orlando Sentinel. I seem to remember them having a very good home section. One day, I read an article reviewing a book. The article raved about this book, how most home buying books weren't very useful at all, but that this was the one that could explain everything in short words with few syllables. So I just had to buy this book. And I did.
How to Get the Best Home Loan by W. Frazier Bell. This book really opened my eyes to what I had to do to get a home loan, know what I would qualify for and what the different types of loans were. If you feel lost in the tide of acronyms and terms, this book will really help you understand what the heck people are talking about. I have since loaned this book out to a friend, I'm just not positive which one . I believe there is now a waiting list to reserve my copy, so you might as well spend the $13 and buy your own copy. It is well worth the money.
Now that we're in PA, I read the home sections in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Generally, this home section doesn't compare to The Orlando Sentinel's as far as quality writing and relative content; however, the Inquirer has Alan J. Heavens (another website you may need to register for, sorry). I generally don't identify too strongly with newspaper writers, but Alan has touched on so interesting and applicable articles, I never forget to read what Alan has to say each week. If you have the chance, check out his listing of articles on the website link above.
The Big, Bad Credit Report
I won't go into any real details here on working on your credit. I can point you to my credit reporting page, where I talk about what I've done with our credit. Keep in mind that I guided my credit approach from the "lots of credit, not as much history" end of the spectrum. My credit was about average. My spouse's was bad, but nothing that a couple years and some due diligence couldn't fix. I'll be updating that credit reporting page soon, since I have learned quite a bit since I first wrote it.
I can tell you that although there are alternative loan programs available for people with bad credit, ideally you want to:
I'm all about simplicity when it comes to credit reports. Know what every single listing is on your credit report, whether it's good or bad and know whether it belongs on there. The last thing you want is to have your down payment together, ready to go out and find a home only to be dragged down by something you've long forgotten about that needs to be taken care of before you can get your house.
Toying with Dollars
Want to see what you really qualify for and what your payment will look like? The HSN Home Buyer's Calculator is a wonderful tool. It is actually a downloadable calculator, as opposed to ones on websites. It seems fairly thorough, including hazard insurance, property taxes and PMI, important numbers for determining your payment and qualifications that are normally forgotten from most calculators.
Learning About Schools
Greatschools.net - Even if you plan to send your children to private school or you want to home school, your school district will affect you. In this area, generally the worse the school district, the higher the property taxes. And when I say high, I mean a few streets over and you could triple what you pay! Also, just because you may not use the schools, doesn't mean that when you go to sell your home, it won't be held against you. No one wants their children in a poor school district. Just keep that in mind. It may not be a huge deciding factor for you but it might be for someone else.
Water, Water Everywhere
The house we were renting in Oreland had a basement with a water problem. It wasn't that bad, really, but it had been in the recent past. Everyone's basement on that street was, actually. The street dead ended into a hill with railroad tracks. That hill was a barrier to catch the water on the street since it sloped towards that direction and it held it all there. A few years before we moved there, the entire street flooded from some really bad rains. The basement, which was completely underground, had water up to almost the first floor. It was bad. The owner of the house did as much as he could to fix the problem. It was much better but still not perfect. This and signs I had seen in nearby areas that warned of flooding made me wonder why people would live there. I guess the signs weren't always there, maybe they weren't always flood zones, but I knew that I wanted to do everything I could to avoid this potential problem. This desire lead me to FEMA.
FEMA Flood Zone - If you go into the FEMA online store and choose to buy an online map, they'll let you view the Public Flood Map. Use the FIRMette feature to save to a PDF or TIF file.
A good zone from FEMA doesn't guarantee that everything will be dry, but it's a little extra reassurance. Your inspector should be able to help you out a little in determining your potential house's water history, but FEMA is some place you can check out before you get into a contract or spend money on an inspector.
Realtors - Realtors split 5-6% commission on most every home sale so you want to check them out a little before jumping in and committing to one. I don't know of a way to find an ethical realtor other than asking friends for references, so I'd recommend giving that a try. You can look up a realtor's license on the Pennsylvania Department of State Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs site. (whew! long name) I'm sure there will be more to add this later.