How to Buy a House home
Learn the basics
1.	The Basics
2.	How much home can you afford?
3.	The Down Payment
4.	The Loan
-	Assuming a Loan
-	Owner Financing
5.	Qualifying for a loan
6.	Understand Closing Costs
Do the groundwork
7.	Get your finances in order
8.	Check Your Credit Report
-	Repair bad credit
-	Establish Credit if you don't have any
The Process
10.	Find a Lender
11.	Evaluate the bank's offer
12.	Start looking at houses
13.	Get the Disclosure
14.	Make an offer / Sign a Contract
15.	Have the House Inspected
16.	Problems on the Inspection?
17.	Renegotiate the terms
18.	Appraisal, Survey, & Insurance
19.	Appraisal went through?
20.	Closing!

After the purchase

Avoding scams

More about Mortgages

How much loan can you get?

Figuring your monthly pmt.

15- vs. 30-year loans

Prepaying your mortgage

How to figure mortgage interest

Private Mortgage Insurance

Paying Points

If you won't live long enough to pay off the mortgage

Other Topics

Renting vs. Buying: Which is better?

Homebuyer Tax Credit

Buying is an investment

Appreciation

Paying cash vs. getting a loan

The Debt Ratio

Tax breaks are actually welfare for the rich

Other

Links to helpful sites

Fan Mail

Michael Bluejay's home page

Email Me

Here's your free 38-page guide I'm a real estate investor. by Michael Bluejay I've bought and sold several homes so I'm in a good position to explain how to buy a house to first-time home buyers. I'm not a realtor, and I'm not trying to sell you anything. I created this site only to share my knowledge of home-buying with others; I wanted to create the guide that *I* wish I had when I was a rookie home buyer. (Yes, I do make some money from the ads on the site, but I added them only as an afterthought. I really did create this guide just to share.) Parts of this site are Additional Readings in the official coursework for Finance 101 at the College of Southern Nevada. This site contains a lot more than a typical pamphlet or even what you'd learn from most realtors. Certainly many people have bought houses without knowing nearly this much . (Including me, when I bought my first home.) We'll cover such things as: How much you can afford The down payment The loan How to qualify for a loan Closing costs ...and lots more. The full list of topics is on the left, and you can step through them one at a time by following the "Next:" link on the bottom of each page. I believe everything here to be accurate, but of course it's "use at your own risk". And by the way, I have no idea whether the house-buying info listed here applies anywhere outside the USA. Ready to get started? Then go to the first lesson: The Basics of Buying a House. -- Michael Bluejay Award-winning writer

Next: The Basics