Before buying a home or entering into a purchase contract to buy a home there are many items that need to be carefully considered. These items are even before you start talking to a mortgage broker, your local bank, and/or a Realtor as well. Read on to find the single most important step in the homebuying process that is often not given nearly enough thought.

You have finally decided it is time to get out of your apartment, rental home or your parents home and buy a home of your own. However, you do not exactly know where to start, who to contact or what your first step should be. Rest assured that there are many consumers in your exact situation, asking these same exact questions everyday. One of the most overlooked items of the home buying process is buying a home that does not fit your exact needs or lacks the functionality that you need in a home.

Home functionality and your housing needs are one in the same thing. When I say home functionality what I mean is what do you absolutely need from your home to be happy, comfortable, and for the home to be functional? For example, if you were looking to buy a home in the hottest part of Arizona, buying a home without air conditioning would probably not be a smart buy. If you have 4 teenage daughters, buying a 1 bathroom home would probably not be a very good decision. If you have a family that consists of 5 children and 2 adults, a home with 1 bedroom would definitely not fulfill your housing needs. A two story home with all of the bedrooms upstairs would not be good if you had an elderly parent or handicapped family member who could not make it up stairs. Therefore, your home needs to be able to function well for you and your family's needs.

Before you talk to a mortgage professional or a Realtor, you and your spouse should sit down by yourselves and create a list of your housing "needs" versus your housing "wants." Too many people do not take this critical step in the homebuying process and they end up with a home with a lot more of their "wants" instead of all of their "needs". Stick with this list and do not deviate from it when looking at homes. Here is a list of some specific items to pay attention to for your specific needs:

* school systems
* distance to employer(s)
* number of bedrooms
* number of bathrooms
* house size
* yard size
* heating and cooling systems
* age of home
* rural, suburban, or urban
* crime rates
* nearby businesses (types, how many, traffic, etc...)
* storage space
* how many people are in your family
* any handicap needs (house with all Bedrooms on 2nd floor would not be good for someone who could not make it up stairs)
* home office needs
* garage size
* house location (near a "dump", nuclear power plant, power lines, night club, highways, etc...)
* city water, city sewer, septic tank, etc...
* many, many more items too

Now some of the "wants" that people have such as a pool, hot-tub, walk-out basement, extra large house, extra car garage, extra bedroom, finished basement, super sized lot, gourmet kitchen, oak paneling, brick front, island counter, library, enclosed patio, sun room, etc... should definitely be put behind your list of housing "needs." Too many people are sacrificing what they need, for the more superficial items that they do not need. This can cause emotional distress, family problems and extreme dissatisfaction in your homeownership experience and with your family life. While an extra large house may be nice to show off to your friends and such, remember you are the one who has to live there and make the payments there.  Buy within your means, stick to your list of housing "needs" first and foremost, and then after you have found some houses that satisfy all of your needs, you can begin looking at which houses contain some of your "wants" as well. For more information on what to look for in a home visit this link: http://www.fshomeloan.com/Toledo-Lucas/what_should_i_look_for_in_a_home.htm