Residential Real Estate Buying Guide

• Determine How Much Home You Can Afford
• Pick a Real Estate Property for Your Lifestyle
• Know What Real Estate You're Buying
• Choose Residential Real Estate Financing That Fits
• Find Residential Real Estate on halfvalue

Determine How Much Home You Can Afford

You’ll save yourself a lot of effort if you take the time to figure out how much mortgage you can afford on a residential property.

• Pre-qualify with a residential lender: Talk to a residential lender to get pre-qualified before starting the process so you know exactly how much money you’ll be able to borrow.

• Determine your monthly mortgage payment — use the 28% rule: Generally, a residential lender wants your monthly mortgage payment to be 28% (or less) of your monthly gross income, which is your monthly income before taxes and other paycheck deductions.

• Consider interest rates in your monthly mortgage payments: The lower the interest rate of a loan, the lower your overall monthly mortgage payment. A low interest rate loan may mean you can afford a higher-priced home.

• Estimate monthly maintenance costs, insurance premiums, and taxes: Even though they don’t directly affect purchase price, monthly maintenance costs, insurance premiums, and taxes do have an impact on your pocketbook and may be considered by your lender.

Pick a Real Estate Property for Your Lifestyle

There’s a variety of residential real estate types for a variety of lifestyles. You’ll probably have different needs if you’re retiring to sunny Florida than if you’re snapping up foreclosures in Texas. Consider how you’ll be using the property when you place your bid.

• Single-family homes: Single-family homes are free-standing structures that don’t share walls with any other homes.

• Duplexes: Duplexes are residential complexes consisting of two separate residential units where there’s only one legal title covering both units.

• Condominiums: Condominiums, also known as condos, are typically apartment-style properties within a building or complex. Individuals own the units, and common parts of the property, such as the grounds and building structure, which are owned jointly by the unit owners.

• Housing co-operatives: Co-op residents own shares in a legal entity that owns a group of homes, usually one or more apartment buildings. Each shareholder typically has a lease agreement with the co-op, and the co-op's rules provide tenure for its residents.

Know What Real Estate You're Buying

For most people, a house is a significant purchase. You want to purchase residential real estate you'll enjoy living in, and that will also sustain and hopefully grow in value. Look for things that can add to, or take away, value in your property.

• Pick the right residential real estate location: Find out about the neighborhood. Is it in demand? Are there grocery stores, shopping, and good schools nearby? The “Neighborhood Profile” feature is a great place to start. It gives you important details such as population in the area, average incomes, crime rates, and types of housing nearby.

• Get the right residential real estate features: You want features that you like, but it’s good to buy with your property’s resale potential in mind. To find out which features are in demand, browse the local residential real estate ads and see which ones are mentioned frequently.

• Check the condition of the home or real estate: Is the roof leak-free? Are there termites? Is the electrical work up to code? Issues like these can add costs after the purchase, so make sure to know about them ahead of time. Consider using a professional inspector who is trained to see things you may not.

• Get answers from the seller: Ask the seller or seller’s agent about the residential real estate property. Consider making a list of your top 10 questions. Some states may require that the seller deliver to a buyer a specific form of disclosure statement.

• Conduct a home title search: A title search is usually performed by a title company or an attorney, who examines public records to determine the property's legal ownership, loans on the property, and property taxes due. The company or attorney will also find out if there are any liens, which are claims against the property by debtors, or any easements, which give rights to anyone other than you to make limited use of the property, such as for right of way. If there are issues with the title, discuss them with the seller.

Choose Residential Real Estate Financing That Fits

While there are many different types of residential real estate mortgages, fixed rate mortgages and adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are the most common.

• Fixed rate residential real estate mortgages: Fixed-rate mortgages set your interest rate prior to closing on your home and the rate does not change for the term of the loan. Many banks allow you to lock in a favorable interest rate several months prior to closing. If you expect rates to rise, you may want to lock in a rate even earlier — usually for a fee based on a percentage of a point (1 point typically equals 1% of your loan).

• Adjustable rate residential real estate mortgages: An adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) has a lower initial interest rate than fixed-rate mortgages, but the rate will vary throughout the term of the loan. The bank can raise your rate in accordance with a rise in interest rates with an adjustment period determining the frequency of your rate change. ARMs generally have an interest rate cap, with yearly and/or lifetime maximums.

Find Residential Real Estate on halfvalue

Once you know what type of residential real estate you want, go to the Real Estate category portal and start searching for residential property on halfvalue.

• Categories: The Categories list will help you narrow down listings by type of property. You'll find links for Residential Homes, Land Parcels, Timeshares, and more.

• Product Finder: Use the drop-down menus on the Real Estate Finder to quickly narrow down item listings by state/province, sale type, number of bedrooms, and number of bathrooms.

• Keyword search: Search halfvalue title listings for specific words. For example, if you want to find condos, type "condominium" (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results. Visit halfvalue's Search Tips page for more tips on searching with keywords.

If you can't find exactly what you want, try shopping halfvalue Stores, tell the halfvalue Community what you want by creating a post on Want It Now, or save a search on My halfvalue and halfvalue will email you when a match becomes available.