What is your best advice for a first time home buyer?

I am looking for a small, one bedroom house - not a permanent residence, but something I can live in while I save money.


How many months ahead of time should I start looking?


Would it just be better to rent for now?


I don't even know where to begin... any advice??What is your best advice for a first time home buyer?
Robert w is right, wait until housing market hits bottom. Speculators give it another 12 months and then you'll see an even bigger drop. It's unfortunate but my legal newspaper has many trust sales/auctions right now, even so it will be at even more of a crisis level later, save your duckets and give it a year. You'll have more flush cash and fire sales coming from all sides. Buy at the lowest, don't be tempted.What is your best advice for a first time home buyer?
I would suggest renting and saving if you are not planning on living in the home for atleast 3-5 years in order to build up enough equity to sell it and atleast break even..
Jump in Lucky B! Nothin to it but to do it. Contact two local loan brokers. Give only one permission to pull your credit and make sure they are willing to give you a copy. Pay for the credit report. Give the copy to the other broker to avoid them pulling it again. White out your ss #';s then make a copy before you give it to broker #2. They will give you a loan application, complete it. Then they will let you know how much you qualify for, and take that number and run. Ex: if you are approved for 200k look at homes slightly higher as it is a buyers market. Offer what you like!!! Happy shopping!
start by continuing to rent. simple as that.


';not a permanent residence'; is an expensive way to lose money for temporary housing.


since u apppear single - the 'tax' benefit of a house will not be there when all the numbers are added up.


start at library


'house buying for dummies' good read so u keep ur money


'total money make over' d.ramsey so u can learn hard lessons from others mistakes.


keep renting since house market is adjusting and u seem temporary in ur place in life.
Regardless of the other answers, buying real estate is always a smart investment as well as right now is the best time to buy. FIND A LOCAL REALTOR. They have the knowledge to help you and it doesn't cost you anything.
Good luck buying a 1 br house, you may be better looking at condos. The economy is really slumpy right now so you may be able to get a decent deal but good luck selling it in the future. You might even wanna look for a 2 br just for resale purposes. It all really depends on your city, is rent affordable or similarly priced to owning. If your credits good you don't really need a house on there and what about down the road when you do find your perfect place, if your house doesn't sell it'll just take away from your debt to income ratio. Good luck though.
Best first time buyer advice is here: http://wefixrates.com/First_Time_Buyers_鈥?/a>


Make sure to save a copy!
Since you said you don't plan on living there for long and it's only a temporary residence, you may want to rent for now. First time home buyers get alot of perks and I would hate to see you waste it on something temporary. You only qualify once as a first time home-buyer. I would wait until your ready.
That depends on where you are located and how long you plan to live there. In most markets I would recommend you go ahead and start looking for a home that meets your needs and buy. Mortgage rates are reasonable and you would be building equity in your own home rather than someone else's. However if you are in one of the areas that are truly hurting from the recent market trouble you may be better off renting a small efficiency apartment. That also depends on how temporary your situation is. If you will be saving for 4 or 5 years owning would tend to look better than renting. If you are talking about 3 or less years you may be better off renting. The thing to do would be to talk to both a Mortgage Broker and Realtor in your area. They will be able to give you more details and localized information.





Hope this helps,





Josh