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my wife and I just bought our first home and are moving in this friday - best advice is get a good mortgage broker and get pre-approved for a mortgage amount so that when you go out - you know the price range you can work with, but also - when you enter into a real estates office with that bank letter - you are taken more seriously.
when looking for a home - try not to see it as the way it is now - but what you can make it. We were fortunate in getting ours that it pretty much is perfect to our tastes - but we also had a home we thought was great a few months early. We had to allow ourselves to loose that one over price and agree that it wasnt the only home on the market. by being patient we found a better home for less.
do your homework in the area and try to visualize living there a few years and what problems can come up. A decent inspection of the home from foundation walls to any cracks, moisture spots where mold can be to the age of all the equipment in there will give you an idea how much extra in the future your going to have to spend. Many sellers will attempt to cover up problems - so DON"T show emotion that you simply love the place... if your going to drop the price by 20k (which is where you always should start off when making an offer) - if they think your wanting it too bad - they won't budge. find the market value of the home as well and any future changes in the community your living in that may affect the price of your home.
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