Your landlord just raised the rent. You realize you'd rather invest in your future than pay the landlord's mortgage. After much discusision, you and your spouse decide that it's time look into buying a home.
What do you do now?
The first thing you need to do is to decide what cities or areas you would like to live in. Statistics show that you will probably consider a neighborhood that you visit regularly or have visited in the past.
Once you have an idea which cities you would like to live in, visit a website that publishes listings to the general public such as www.homes.com, www.homegain.com or www.realtor.com. Get an idea what price homes or condos are selling the areas that you are interested in . Some of these sites will have a built in map to show you the general location of a property. There will also be a built in mortgage caculator that will give you an idea what the monthly payment will be like. Other information such as school districts, churches, malls, etc. can also be obtained through serach engines such as google or yahoo.
Use these sites to make the following decisions about your future home:
House or Condo? 
1, 2 or 3 Bedroom?
1, 1.5 or 2 Baths?
Small kitchen or large modern kitchen? 
Garage or Carport?
Pool? 
View?
Decide which of these characteristics are important to you. Figure out which you cannot live without - such as closet space, a den, library, large yard.
Then look for that realtor and ask him for that checklist that will take you to the next step towards finding your home.
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