First-time Homebuyers Info

Published by Chris | Filed under Real Estate Online | December 26th, 2007

The web is your best friend if you’re a first-time homebuyer. Looking into many free classes around our area, but with life busy schedules, who has time to put aside four hours every Wednesday night? Instead, going-at-your-own-pace of the Buying a Home online tutorial from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. All the basics that you’ll need to know are here, including figuring out how much you can afford, how to shop for a loan, the inspection process, and homeowners insurance. It’s a good way to see what you’re about to get yourself into.

It’s also a smart idea to familiarize yourself with Mortgage-calc.com, a simple approach to figuring out how much you should plan for, money-wise. Everything from simple mortgage calcs to complex amortization schedules can be found here.

Zillow’s free home valuation here before; it’s a good tool to keep handy when you’re in the midst of this whole buying and selling process. Oh, and there’s also Bankrate.com, where you can find the latest rates for all kinds of home loans from fixed to jumbo.

Last but not least, you can learn the hard way from previous moves to always factor in the cost of moving BEFORE you move. The Homestore’s Moving Calculator can help you do that: it takes your information and gives you a detailed cost analysis, room by room and according to origin and destination.

If you have any other ways you’ve used the web to help in the buying or selling a home, please let us know in the comments. Photo by:Isgcp