Looking for some general advice about buying my first house.

[IWEARGOGGLES]

Thanks for responding mmctrab.

Yeah last year I went looking a lot and I didn't buy simply because I didn't find anything that I felt was perfect for me. I mean I guess I have a laundry list of things that I'm looking for but I'll be more lenient once I'm back from Aussie. I really, really need to live by myself.

Anyways, my realtor is actually a close friend of the family so I think she'll be able to do well with the negotiating aspect. She is pretty intent on making sure I get a good deal for whatever I buy. She has definitely told me prices have dropped (it seems that way to me as well because I think prices are different from last year when I looked) and that it is a good market to negotiate in.

[Jestli]

shop for the best mortgage before you shop for the house, find one with out pre payment penalties try to avoid high points and fees and so on so u dont fall in love with a place then have to go beg to get approved and have them give you [censored] rates

its good to know the price you can afford and not the payments bc they can always give you lower payment (then u end up paying 10's of thousands more in interest)

know that at closing itll be more then just the 10% down there will be a lot of closing costs there will be a lot of other exp. pmi, title insurance,points, fees, moving exp, etc.

just research research research make sure its a house thats a good deal and not just one you like, houses are usually the biggest investment in life so treat it as that, i think thats pretty much the basics, somewhat common sense but good to keep in mind