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The home buying process can be exciting and overwhelming at the same time. After all, it’s one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll ever make. So before you begin looking for a home, make sure you have a plan in place.

Here are some more tips to help you get the most out of your house hunting experience.

Take pictures of the home, inside and out.

When shopping for a home, bring your digital camera along. Or borrow one from a friend. Take pictures of all the houses you visit, and then group the pictures by house address for easy viewing later. This will help you remember the details of each house afterward. Then you can more easily decide which houses you’d like to follow-up on or revisit.

Bring a friend of family member along.

Buying a home can stir up a lot of different emotions, and that’s perfectly normal. But emotion can sometimes overpower logic — not something you want when making a financial decision.

You can counter this by bringing a friend or family member along on your house hunt. By bringing someone who’s not so emotionally attached to the process, you’ll have an objective ally to help you identify the pros and cons of each house.

This person can also help you recall details about a house after each visit. And chances are, they’ll be able to point out aspects of a home you might not have noticed otherwise.

Compare the house to your budget.

Ever heard the expression “house poor”? This is what happens when people take on more of a mortgage than they can comfortably afford. Ask yourself this question. If you have to work longer hours and scrimp and save just to afford a house, is it really worth it?

While house hunting, you’ll inevitably come across one or two houses that really knock your socks off, but would also knock a hole in your budget. But you have to keep your finances in mind, no matter how gorgeous a house might be.

Consider the commute.

Here’s another area where it pays to be objective. If you find a house you like, and it’s within your price range, the next thing to consider is the location. Is the house near or far from work? Does it have access to the highways you need? How long will your commute be each day?

It’s easy to fall in love with a house and dismiss the drive time. But if you commute every day, drive time matters! Try driving to or from the house during rush hour to get a realistic picture of what you’ll face every day.

Avoid spur-of-the-moment decisions.

Buying a home will probably be the biggest financial decision of your life. So it requires careful consideration. Know what you’re looking for and how much you can afford. Remember to be objective. Then get out there and hunt!

* Copyright 2006, Brandon Cornett. You may republish this article in its entirety, provided you leave the byline, author’s note and website hyperlink intact.

About the Author

Brandon Cornett is the editor of HomeBuyingInstitute.com, one of the Internet’s largest and most respected libraries of home buying information — more than 100 expert articles in 12 different home buying categories! Put this knowledge to use by visiting http://www.HomeBuyingInstitute.com

[tags]home buying, real estate, buying a home, house hunting[/tags]

When you are buying a home, there are many problems that the seller is obligated to disclose, but, these disclosures don’t always paint the entire picture of the home. Here are six questions you may want to ask that can offer additional insight about the prospective home before you make a final decision.

1) Why is the seller selling the house?
This question may help you evaluate the “real value” of the property. Is there something about the house the seller does not like? If so, you may be able to adjust the purchase offer accordingly.

2) How much did the seller pay for the home?
This question can, in some instances, help the buyer negotiate a better dealmaybe even get the seller to carry part of the loan. However, it is important to remember that the purchase price is influenced by several factors, like the current market value and any improvements the seller may have made to the home. The original purchase price might not have anything to do with the current value of the house.

3) What does the seller like most and least about the property?
By asking the seller what he or she likes most and least about the property, you might get some interesting information. In a few cases, what a seller likes the most about a home might actually be something the buyer is looking to avoid. For example, if the seller describes his house as being in a “happening community,” the buyer might consider this a negative factor because the area may be too noisy or busy for his or her taste.

4) Has the seller had any problems with the home in the past?
It is also a good idea to ask the seller if he or she has had any problems with the home while living there. Has the seller had problems with a leakage from the upstairs bedroom in the past? If so, even if the leak has been corrected, the floor and walls around the bathroom might have been damaged. You should also check that these items were repaired properly.

5) Are there any nuisances or problem neighbors?
Use this answer to find out about any noisy neighbors, barking dogs, heavy airplane traffic or even planned changes to the community, such as a planned street widening. This may give you insight on why the seller is really moving.

6) How are the public schools in the area?
Because the value of a community is usually greatly influenced by the public schools in the area, finding out the buyer’s perception can give you some insight about the quality of the area’s schools.
Knowing all you can about a prospective home, not only helps you decide if it’s the home of your dreams, but what offer to make as well. Your real estate professional can help you get your key questions answered and give you advice on how to evaluate your findings.

Neda Dabestani-Ryba is a licensed Realtor in Maryland. She is a member of the President’s Circle of Top Real Estate Professionals. She can be reached at (800) 536-3806 or visit her website for more information: http://neda.dabestani.pcragent.com/
Prudential Carruthers REALTORS is an independently owned and operated member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., a Prudential Financial company. Equal Housing Opportunity

[tags]neda dabestani, home buying, prudential carruthers, md real estate, baltimore real estate[/tags]

Foreclosures have not been touched by the black plague; many are good options to look at when shopping for a home. Sometimes they do need to be fixed up, but other times you can move into them right away. Despite the negative impression many buyers have, foreclosures can be a great way to buy a home and gain instant equity.

First, it is valuable to understand how a home becomes a foreclosed property. A simple definition is that someone borrowed money to purchase the home, and then stopped paying the money back (a.k.a. going into default on their mortgage). This allows the lender to take legal action and obtain ownership of the home to recoup their losses; and in turn causes the homeowner who was in default to lose any equity they had built in the home. You would think that banks would be happy to take the home to cover the money they loaned out; however it is bad for them to keep foreclosures on their books. To alleviate the problem lenders typically try to auction or resell the house as quickly as possible.

HUD (Housing and Urban Development) homes are also foreclosed properties. They are different from normal foreclosures because the lender for the loan was a government lender such as FHA (Federal Housing Administration) or VA (Veterans’ Affairs). When owners with government loans go into default, HUD steps in to take over the property and try to resell or auction it.

Now you know what a foreclosure is, and you can consider foreclosed properties that catch your eye without fear of the unknown. Keep in mind that you should still go through all of the appropriate channels to check out the house structurally and functionally before you make a buying decision. This includes getting a proper home inspection. An inspection will point out any existing or potential problems and will allow you to factor in estimates for repairs that will need to be made to the home right away. These repairs may include plumbing or wiring, the roof, flooring, paint and so on. Making these calculations will help you figure out the amount of equity you will really end up with, and allow you to make the best decision financially.

As you continue your search for a home, remember that foreclosures can be a good investment for your family. By doing your research you can find and entertain more options then you might have realized that meet both your price and living space needs.

Content provided by 10x Media. Established in 2003, 10x Media provides innovative online marketing tools.It has expanded its online presence through networks such as Inside Real state, Inside Finances and Grab Real Estate, which contain thousands of pages for city and state specific real estate information across the nation.

[tags]Home buying, Foreclosure, real estate[/tags]