Top Articles

Your Homeowner's Insurance - 6 Tips for Ensuring Proper Residential Coverage
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Understanding Your Homeowners Insurnace Coverage Options
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Hurricane Season : Tips To Keep Your Home Insured Against Flood Damage
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Are You Prepared with Flood Insurance
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Homeowners Insurance & Keeping
Track of Your Goods
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Is Homeowners Insurance Enough
During Tough Times?
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What Does Homeowners Insurance Cover?
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Residential Coverage
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Detached Structures
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Coverage for Personal Items and Belongings
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1. Use all of the online resources available.

Almost every state and local government has a website where you can research real estate information. The data on home sales, taxes, and neighborhoods is invaluable when you are shopping for a home. We were able to find out the most recent sale prices in the neighborhood we selected, and we didn't have to rely on a real estate agent to get the data for us. Doing the research yourself will make you more knowledgeable about the market, which is key to making a good purchase.

2. Be realistic about how much you can spend.

Try to buy a home in a price range that allows you to put down 20%. If you put down less than this, you will have to pay PMI (private mortgage insurance) to protect the lender in case you default on the loan.

3. Shop for a home in the winter, preferably around the holidays.

Since most people just aren't interested in buying a home when they are trying to deal with the holidays, you can pretty much be one of the few buyers out there.

4. Use a smaller mortgage company that can offer personal service.

People tend to go with large, well-known mortgage companies, since that's all they know. But the smaller, regional companies provide excellent customer service, and can often give you better rates than the big companies. Since they don't advertise and instead rely on word-of-mouth, they have to be good in order to get your service.

5. Always have a home inspection.