If you are prospective home buyer searching for homes on the internet, good for you! Logging onto www.realtor.com or www.yahoo.com/realestate will take you to the area of your choice and let you select any price range you want. You can even pick how many bedrooms & bathrooms you would like. While it can be fun to look at homes online it makes sense to find your own price category first. With that in mind, back away from the computer and go speak with a lender.

 

Lenders will identify the amount you will be able to borrow for a home purchase. That amount will establish a monthly payment. What you can borrow and what you would like your monthly payment to be may differ. Knowing the difference can help you to be realistic with your budget. If you have a monthly payment in mind tell the lender and the lender will show you the loan amount that will produce that monthly payment. Once you have loan approval ask the lender to issue a letter to that effect.

 

Having an established price range will help you search online. You may even find yourself leaving the virtual world and getting out into the real world. This is when you want to talk to a realtor. A realtor, like a lender, can help you find houses in your price range, but in a different way. When you decide on a house, who says that house has been priced correctly, compared to what similar houses have sold for in that area? A realtor can do a competitive market analysis which will identify the market value of that home. With this information you can make an educated offer. This has helped many buyers make a reasonable offer that a Seller will consider, but also avoid paying too much, especially in a Buyer's market.