Buying a Home
Expand All Guide SectionsRent or Buy?
The purchase of a home is likely the single largest transaction you will ever make. If you're ... read more »
Where to Live
Finding the right neighborhood can be just as important as finding the right home. Maybe ... read more »
Choosing a Home
As your hunting begins, you will soon find that there is no shortage of properties for sale. While ... read more »
Find Homes for Sale
There was a time when the only way to find homes for sale was through newspapers or signs in ... read more »
Find Real Estate Brokers
Whether you hire a broker to help you purchase a home is a personal decision. Some people feel ... read more »
Home Inspections and Homeowners Insurance
Now that you've found a home you like, it's time to do a little more sleuthing. As soon as possible ... read more »
Negotiating Home Prices
Negotiating the price of a home requires the same level of research and preparation you've put into ... read more »
Home Mortgages
The process of obtaining a home loan can be arduous and confusing if you're not prepared before you start your quest to find a new home. Review the Web sites in this section to familiarize yourself with financial jargon and the various types of home loans to ensure you'll understand how to secure the loan that's best for you and your financial future.
Dulcinea's Insight
- Check a lender’s background thoroughly before you get caught up in a lending scheme that makes too-good-to-be-true–sounding promises for people with bad credit who want to own a home.
- Online-only lending companies often boast low closing fees but it’s always a good idea to compare the fees of a few different lenders to be sure you’re really saving money. Also remember that saving a few hundred dollars in closing costs is easily negated by an interest rate that’s even slightly higher.
- If your parents or someone else is helping you purchase your first home, remember that recent deposits of large sums of money into your bank account can be difficult to explain to a lender, who will want to know whether that money was a loan that you'll need to pay back.
- If you want to learn more about how mortgages work, or how to choose the right mortgage for you, browse through the sites recommended in our findingDulcinea Mortgages Web Guide.
- Ginnie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae are all secondary market lenders. In other words, they provide money to the lending institutions that will be giving you the money you need to buy your home. All three were founded by the federal government, though Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are now publicly traded, for-profit companies.
Dulcinea's Picks
Closing Process
The day you close on your new home can be a very exciting one but if you want it to go smoothly ... read more »
