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Home Search Tips For The First Time Home Buyers

What is my price range searching for a home ?

There is no sense to look for houses you cannot afford.
Work with a mortgage lender or a financial institution to understand with the down payment that you have, together with your family income, find out the maximum price range that you should consider.
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Buyers Interest

Once you have decided to use one particular realtor to look for a home for you, ask if your interest is looked after by him/her .  Make sure it is in writing.

Different cities and municipalities have different laws.  Do not be surprised to find out that your agent looking for a house for you might turn out to be working for the interest of the seller instead of you, the buyer.!
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Which area I want to move to ?

Consider the traveling distance to work, pick an area you are comfortable with.
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Which neighborhood I want to move to ?

Now, consider the neighborhood you or your children like to live in.
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School for the children

Do I want my children going to the neighborhood school ?
Or a private school further away ? How far away is it ?
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What is my life style ?

If I am buying a house for my family with children, I might consider sub-urban area.
If I am a single person, and I enjoy going to nice restaurants, theatres, bars, etc, I might consider near downtown.
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Find out incentives offered by government and other agencies

Look at the websites of your federal, state, provincial, or municipal governments Monetary incentives could be offered by them especially for the first time home buyers.
Check with the real estate agent you are working with. He/she might be able to tell you.
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Pick a real estate agent to work with

Ask for referral from your family or friends which realtor they would recommend.
Read Reasons to work with a real estate agent
Questions to ask an agent when buying from this website.
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Understand the current real estate market

The kind of house, the area, and the type of neighborhood you finally pick could well be decided by the market at that time.
The simple reason is that, in a hot seller market, there might not be that many choices of homes that are available to you.
You might want to live in a good neighborhood, but the market is too strong that you can no longer afford that price.
On the other hand, if the market is much weaker, you are able to buy something much better than you first thought.
Read the newspaper.  Watch the news on TV.  Listen to what the experts are saying.  What is the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is saying ?  What do the bankers say on the interest rate ?
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Areas to avoid

Some people might avoid certain areas.  It is entirely a personal choice and a personal belief.
Some people like to avoid an area near the hydro-electric wiring and stations, for the reason that they might cause cancer.  According to different reports, there was no conclusive evidence.
Some people want to avoid the neighborhood near a nuclear reactor.  But ask those who work there.  They might not agree.
Too close to a rail-track could be a problem.  But there are those who could only afford the ones near there.
Certainly in every city, there is always some neighborhood well-known for crime, and you want to avoid that.
Check with a local police station, if you want to know where the bad areas are.
Contact your insurance agent, they can tell you which areas are a higher risk.
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When is the best time to buy ?

Any time is the best time to buy a house for yourself to live in when you are ready. The reason is, in a steady economy, in a long run, real estate always increase in value.
To be a tenant, paying rent to a landlord, we all know that it only make the landlord rich. Your rents go down the drain, and you get nothing back.
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Educate yourself on the websites

Go to www.realtors.com to look for the homes you want in the United States.
Go to www.mls.ca to look for homes you want in Canada.
See what is available in the area you want.
Visit real estate related websites to understand the business better.
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Hiring a home inspector is most important

Since most the first time home buyers know little about the construction and maintenance of a house, always include a condition on an offer to purchase the house you like, for a professional home inspection.
The main idea is to make sure that nothing major is wrong on the house.

If you are buying in a hot market, such condition might not give you a chance to buy that house, because if you are bidding on the same house with other buyers, they might not include such condition on the offer in order to give themselves a better chance to get the house, since the seller always prefers less complicated offer.
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