The only way to keep up with the latest about Buying First Home is to constantly stay on the lookout for new information. If you read everything you find about Buying First Home, it won't take long for you to become an influential authority.

How can you put a limit on learning more? The next section may contain that one little bit of wisdom that changes everything.

To all the first time home buyer out there, congratulations. You are on the right path as it is really important for you to get your hands on as much information as possible. The process of buying your first home can get quite overwhelming, giving you the feeling that the financial decisions are rapidly spinning out of control. When it comes to real estate, most people do not have a lot of experience or know a lot about it. In all actuality, buying a home is actually a simple process. All you need to do is understand the basics, which will go a long way in helping you buy your very first home.

1. Avoid pre payment penalties at all costs. What this means, is that if you buy the home then later want to sell it before the balance of your mortgage is due, you’ll have to pay a penalty. You can find a variety of great loans that don’t include these types of penalties. If you find a loan that does include pre payment penalties, you should immediately turn it down and look for another loan. Do not make this mistake as it is one costly mistake that you will regret all your life.

2. Look for good ARM’s. If you have a good ARM, then your interest rate and monthly payment will adjust at the exact same time. This will make sure that your interest doesn’t affect your monthly payment. If your interest rate does affect your payment, then you will notice the unpaid interest reflecting the overall amount of your loan balance.

3. Obtain pre approval for your house as well. This lets the seller know that you are serious about buying, and will normally work in your favor to give an edge - which is especially handy if there are several interested parties in purchasing the home. Getting pre approved will also save you a lot of time as well. Only start inspecting the house, trying to get a good interest rate, or negotiating with the seller for your ideal price once you get approved for a loan, otherwise don't waste your time.

4. Before you even begin the process of purchasing a home, be aware of how much you can afford. Before you attempt to purchase a home, you should always go over your budget and figure out how much money you can spend on a mortgage payment. If you manage your money smart and know your finances, this shouldn’t take you hardly any time at all.

5. When you have purchased your first home, try avoid taking any type of home equity loan. These loans can be very tempting when you get in an emergency and need cash, although most home equity loans add up to more than the value of your home. You should never, under any circumstances take a home equity loan, as there are many other ways that you can clear up your personal problems without having to jeopardize your only home.

Keep in mind that the above are just a few basic tips and that there are many other things you’ll need to know before you buy your very first house. You’ll need to be familiar with private mortgage insurance, special loan programs, fixed rate and adjustable rate mortgage, and several other things. Buying a home is an not an easy task but the process is simple once you know a bit about it Familiarize yourself with the process of buying a home and learn all that you can about what is involved, then, you’ll find the home buying process to be easier than you ever thought possible.

Your home will most likely be your largest investment in your lifetime and for that reason most people want to make sure they get it right. Lots of folks wish to have a new home, a brand new that no one has ever lived in before.

Well this makes a lot of sense of course and yet how can you possibly find the best one which you are suited for? Sometimes people decide to move into a different scenario and that is to build there new home their way literally from the ground up. Of course this takes time and patience.

First they decide on a rough sketch of what they want and go thru hundreds of floor plans trying to find something remotely similar to what they want. Next they look for a raw piece of land to put their home on, perhaps a hill with a view or in a specific area in which they might like to live the rest of their life and then retire?

From then on it is a costly endeavor as they find an architect and attempt to get their plans submitted and approved. Next comes the hassle, stress and compromises of costs, contractors, planning department approvals and let me tell you it is enough to throw marriages into turmoil and make you want to pull your hair out.

But if you are committed to the process and patient you are now on your way and along the way you will see that everything costs twice as much as you thought and takes three times as long to get accomplished. So, please consider all this in 2006, if you are considering building your own home.

Lance Winslow, a retired entrepreneur, adventurer, modern day philosopher and perpetual tourist.

Where do you start to design a custom design home? The Design Brief.

Do you know what you want? Do you know what you need? These are two very different questions with very different answers. No matter what your budget is, you will have to get clear on this. You will have to come up with a list! We in the design profession refer to it by the more fancy term of "Design Brief" and it can consist of a scratched out list on the back of an envelope to a 30 page document with magazine inserts, sample plans and paint swatches.

The more complete your Design Brief is, the easier it is to come up with suitable custom home design solutions. Some people like to keep their brief very open, leaving it to the designer to miraculously come up with the perfect design. Whilst those with finely honed psychic powers can achieve this task, it really is akin to trying to shoot a moving target in the dark. It is a process that leads to high expectations from a client - especially if the designer has been foolish enough to promise such a miracle - and usually ends in disappointment.

Having a good Design Brief does not mean that you have to come up with a plan as such, that is the designers job! But feel free to express your own creative talents if you want to start working up a preliminary plan. Thumbnail sketches are good! No-one expects you to be an architect. A plan doesn't have to be to scale, it is important to just get a concept of the sort of spaces you will need. A bubble diagram with labeled circles for rooms is a good starting point.

I describe the design process to my clients as being like doing a jigsaw - they provide the individual pieces and I put it all together for them to create the overall picture. Custom home design does not necessarily translate as "over the top" and expensive. I've designed many modest homes that have been a perfect blend of bringing the functions you need with some special features to make a home unique, individual and a reflection of the client's personality.

Your brief really needs to consist of some basics: Types of room, Room sizes, Vehicle accommodation, How you want spaces to interconnect, Overall house size, Budget, Outdoor areas, Other structures, pools etc., Special needs or hobbies to be catered for, Furniture sizes, .......the list can get as detailed as you like. Include your "wish list" items but realise that budget will dictate how much you can include in the final home design. Remember designers are usually very visual people, so the more pictures you have to communicate your ideas, the better.

Austin, Texas is becoming one of the nation's most popular places to build a custom home. There's the culture, the lifestyle, the weather, and of course ... the affordability.

When building a custom home in Austin -- or anywhere else, for that matter -- there are no hard and fast rules that apply across the board. The very nature of a custom home means it is different from others, so the building process often varies from home to home.

With that being said, there are certain steps you can follow to ensure your home building process is a smooth one:

1. Determine Your Budget
Having a custom home built may be the biggest financial decision you ever make. So before you start talking to builders or looking at lots, you need to determine your budget.

Start by adding up your monthly expenditures. Leave housing out of the equation for now -- just focus on food, shopping, lifestyle, car payments, insurance, investments, etc. Compare these figures to your monthly income to see how much of a house you might realistically afford.

If you currently own a home, this calculation will be much easier. You simply have to ask yourself, "How much more could I comfortably pay each month for a larger mortgage?"

2. Determine Your Location
When choosing a location for your new home, start with the obvious questions. Is it close to work, school and shopping? Are there major roadways, railroads or other noise-producers nearby? What are the taxes like? How are the school systems? (Quality of schools is important whether or not you have children, because it affects your property values.)

Once you've answered the obvious questions, move on to the less-obvious ones: What kind of development is planned for the foreseeable future? Will that beautiful meadow across the street be a parking lot in two years? As of this writing, there's a lot of development and expansion happening in Austin, Texas, so be sure you get a long-range picture of your preferred location.

3. Make a List of Builders
Once you've decided what part of town you want to live in, you can begin making a list of builders who work in the area. You might start by using the search engines, or by visiting some of the online directories of home builders, such as Reals.com, AmericanBuilders.com or BuildingOnline.com.

Once you have a list of some of the top builders in your chosen area, start your fact-finding mission. Request brochures, visit model homes, surf their websites. Do whatever you can to gather information on each builder's reputation, expertise, price range, floor plans and other important criteria.

4. Decide On a Builder
Choosing your custom home builder is a major step. But if you've completed the previous step and conducted some thorough research, you'll have a much easier decision to make.

Once you've established that a builder has a good reputation and a genuine commitment to your happiness, you need to ask the big question: "Does this builder create the kind of home I can see myself in? Does it feel right to me?" Take your time answering these questions and making your ultimate decision.

5. Choose Your Lot
Before you can start looking at floor plans for your new dream home, you need to choose a lot. Floor plans are often dependent on the lot you choose, so the lot usually has to be decided on first.

The reasons for this are sometimes obvious and other times not. Obviously, a longer home will require a longer lot. But there may be other considerations at work. For example, maybe the developer wants to stagger one-story homes and two-story homes throughout the community for overall appeal.

These considerations will vary from builder to builder. For now, just realize that the floor plan will usually depend on the lot you choose. So remember to ask plenty of questions about this along the way.

6. Pick a Floor Plan
One of the great things about a custom home is that it's, well … custom. Sometimes a custom home builder will offer basic floor plans that you can modify as you wish. Other times, the floor plans are created "from scratch" in coordination with an architect. Either way, you have an opportunity to build a home around your present and future needs.

This step of the process will involve many questions. How much space do you need? How many rooms? One story or two? Any special features, like a wraparound deck? This can often be the most exciting part of the home building process, because it involves turning your vision into a reality.

I’ve built three homes from scratch. One was four bedrooms, three baths at around 3000 square feet. Another was five bedrooms, four baths at 3600 square feet. Finally, I bought a lot in the mountains and built a cabin with two bedrooms and two baths. In each case, I chose the lot, exposure, and home. They were builder’s lots and I chose the design from existing models with custom features. The process was both exciting and frustrating.

The exciting aspect is the ability to control your outcome. By picking the lot, exterior, and interior elements, it’s truly a custom experience. We got to work with interior decorators and made all the hard decisions. The inside would include all the wall colors and wallpapers, flooring along with carpet and tile, cabinetry throughout, kitchen design, appliances, window treatment, lighting fixtures, and placements. Also, we chose the countertop materials for the kitchen and bathrooms, surround sound built-ins, and numerous other conveniences. Outside, we installed pools, spas and decking, in the case of the cabin. Rockwork, grass, bushes, trees, and even a putting green were just some of our creations. We got to watch all of it come together over many months of supervision and anticipation. Finally, each one emerged and we got to live in our respective dream homes.

With all that we did, you might be envious of our good fortune that allowed us this amazing opportunity three times over. You would be right, but there were many problems we failed to account for. To start with, we had to choose a lot in subdivisions that weren’t built yet. By choosing a lot, we committed to the location. Unfortunately, without the other home built yet, we were at the mercy of whatever came after us. If the homes around us ended up blocking the view we envisioned, there was nothing we could do about it. If they decided to plant huge trees, erect tall play sets, or other obstructions, that was their choice, but one we had to live with.

This occurred in every case to varying degrees and, had we known, we might have planned differently. For example, we might have picked a lot among homes already built and established. We also had to put up with years of construction noise, debris, and inconvenience dealing with workers and their vehicles. In retrospect, we probably would have done things a lot differently.

You see, we were misled. We thought the only way to customize a home is to buy one from scratch. What we failed to comprehend is that anyone can buy an existing home, gut it if needed, and make whatever changes are required. New flooring, cabinets, wall and window treatment, lighting, and so forth, can be changed for a price. The advantage of this approach is: (a) you still choose your lot, (b) you know everything around you and what to expect, (c) you are spared the aggravation of the construction process, (d) you still can remake the interior or exterior, and (e) you can bargain on the price.

Don’t get me wrong: we loved the three homes we built. But if we had waited, we could have gotten the same homes in the same subdivisions after they were completed, at a later date, and might not have chosen the same locations. So learn from our experience and consider all these options. I know we are, as we decide where our next home will be. I can honestly say, it won’t be built from scratch, but it will still end up being exactly what we want. So, do you need to build a custom home to get one? Myth busted!

Get Your New Home Inspected! Why do thousands of Arizonans have puddles under their bathroom sinks, windows that will not open and shake with terror when they consider putting their property on the Phoenix MLS? Moreover, what is that smell?

It is the smell of buyers being burned because they failed to secure a real estate inspection. Just refer to the New York Times article of August 15, 2006, “When Elevators Fail, City Falters” for a perfect example of this serious problem.¹ Real estate inspections became a burning topic in Arizona when a red-hot Phoenix MLS combined with the strong seller’s markets of 2004 and 2005 caused many buyers to not secure adequate or any real estate inspections.

Real estate inspections and new construction, what happened? Not all construction companies are alike. Many are reputable, paying great attention to detail, while standing behind their work. Others sprung up overnight due to the recent Phoenix MLS boom and employ unknown and unskilled day laborers off the street, while expecting one supervisor to oversee ten to twenty job sites! Forget about attention to detail! Of course, city inspections are required, but they only look for code violations, not shoddy work or outright mistakes. The frightening part is most mistakes can and are sealed into the walls and floors. This leaves buyers to discover major problems later, after the builder is long gone. Your home represents your single largest investment and honest mistakes can happen no matter whom you choose to build with. Protect your investment. Have it inspected.

What is the cost of a real estate inspection? Typically, between $300 and $600, but the final price depends on size and location. Nevertheless, this initial outlay is worthwhile considering the expense of rewiring or re-plumbing an entire house! Think about this. You may decide to sell your property. Once on the Phoenix MLS, your perspective buyer will certainly order a real estate inspection. A small fee up front, at the time of construction, can prevent the anxiety of awaiting your buyer’s report and let you negotiate through the sale with the upper hand. Seriously consider it. A relatively small up front expense can let you enter the Phoenix MLS with confidence instead of sleepless nights.

How can you arrange a real estate inspection? It is easy and most of the work can be done for you! I and agents like me know reputable licensed professionals, who can help you. In my own business, I always provide clients with a choice of at least three honest and dependable inspectors, who have excellent credentials. In addition, I always arrange at least three new construction real estate inspections, a good agent will. The first is of the plumbing before the foundation is poured. The second takes place after the house has been roughed up, but prior to the installation of the walls and flooring. This real estate inspection allows for a check of the studding, plumbing, electrical and HVAC systems. The third real estate inspection is performed right before the buyer’s final walk through. After the third inspection, a list of necessary repairs is given to the buyer, who can discuss them with the builder.

Do not get caught in the current Phoenix MLS frenzy! Be smart and protect your hard earned money with a new construction inspection. Later, if you decide to sell, enter the Phoenix MLS with confidence. Call me if you need a hand. I can help you make it happen. ¹Ozier. “When Elevators Fail, City Falters.”

I’ve built three homes from scratch. One was four bedrooms, three baths at around 3000 square feet. Another was five bedrooms, four baths at 3600 square feet. Finally, I bought a lot in the mountains and built a cabin with two bedrooms and two baths. In each case, I chose the lot, exposure, and home. They were builder’s lots and I chose the design from existing models with custom features. The process was both exciting and frustrating.

The exciting aspect is the ability to control your outcome. By picking the lot, exterior, and interior elements, it’s truly a custom experience. We got to work with interior decorators and made all the hard decisions. The inside would include all the wall colors and wallpapers, flooring along with carpet and tile, cabinetry throughout, kitchen design, appliances, window treatment, lighting fixtures, and placements. Also, we chose the countertop materials for the kitchen and bathrooms, surround sound built-ins, and numerous other conveniences. Outside, we installed pools, spas and decking, in the case of the cabin. Rockwork, grass, bushes, trees, and even a putting green were just some of our creations. We got to watch all of it come together over many months of supervision and anticipation. Finally, each one emerged and we got to live in our respective dream homes.

With all that we did, you might be envious of our good fortune that allowed us this amazing opportunity three times over. You would be right, but there were many problems we failed to account for. To start with, we had to choose a lot in subdivisions that weren’t built yet. By choosing a lot, we committed to the location. Unfortunately, without the other home built yet, we were at the mercy of whatever came after us. If the homes around us ended up blocking the view we envisioned, there was nothing we could do about it. If they decided to plant huge trees, erect tall play sets, or other obstructions, that was their choice, but one we had to live with.

This occurred in every case to varying degrees and, had we known, we might have planned differently. For example, we might have picked a lot among homes already built and established. We also had to put up with years of construction noise, debris, and inconvenience dealing with workers and their vehicles. In retrospect, we probably would have done things a lot differently.

You see, we were misled. We thought the only way to customize a home is to buy one from scratch. What we failed to comprehend is that anyone can buy an existing home, gut it if needed, and make whatever changes are required. New flooring, cabinets, wall and window treatment, lighting, and so forth, can be changed for a price. The advantage of this approach is: (a) you still choose your lot, (b) you know everything around you and what to expect, (c) you are spared the aggravation of the construction process, (d) you still can remake the interior or exterior, and (e) you can bargain on the price.

Don’t get me wrong: we loved the three homes we built. But if we had waited, we could have gotten the same homes in the same subdivisions after they were completed, at a later date, and might not have chosen the same locations. So learn from our experience and consider all these options. I know we are, as we decide where our next home will be. I can honestly say, it won’t be built from scratch, but it will still end up being exactly what we want. So, do you need to build a custom home to get one? Myth busted!

If you happened across a home built from an underground house floor plan you could be forgiven for thinking the owners might be Hobbits because the only things visible might be a door or window set into a foliage covered hill. This type of home is actually a series of small, interconnecting domes made from cement and partially or completely submerged into the earth.

Such unconventional house floor plans are actually a step in the right direction for those persons thinking outside the box in terms of energy conservation and environmental benefits. Living underground in such earth-sheltered housing has its merits and takes a very conservative view in energy usage.

When considering an underground house floor plan, look for the following applications:

1. The house floor plan should blur the distinction between indoors and outdoors. The purpose is to exist in close harmony with nature.

2. The windows should be honeycomb style to harness solar energy.

3. Since the windows for this type of floor plan don't open, an intake vent system with filters should be installed to draw fresh air from outside. The filters help keep out unwanted pests.

4. Air should be fanned from a solar collector through the home duct work into a rock store beneath the main living space. The store system maintains an efficient heat-exchange which works with the insulating soil to maintain a comfortable temperature year round. A good system would require no additional heating or cooling.

The dome shaped rooms give rise to maximum floor space and minimum wall area. Floor areas do not to conform to traditional housing expectations and and the living spaces are defined with curved walls with no sharp corners. Natural sunlight can be channeled into the house via the use of a skylight lined with natural reflective materials

Underground house floor plans got their start in the 1970s from an Austrian architect named Eisenhofer. Sadly, most dismissed his energy efficient and unconventional house plans as nothing more than a hippie experiment. It has only been within the past few years that interest in earth-sheltered housing is attracting some interest. As people become more environmentally conscious, the popularity of underground house floor plans as an energy efficient alternative can only increase.

ENERGY STAR! You see this label on most every appliance and electronic item you buy, from refrigerators to computer monitors. Items with this label meet standards for energy efficiency set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

In 1995 the EPA turned their attention to buildings and defined ENERGY STAR stan­dards for homes. An ENERGY STAR-certified home is 30 percent or more efficient than a conventional home. As energy prices climb, homeowners will save more on heating and cooling bills, decrease the amount of pollution released into the environment and place less of a strain on the energy infrastructure.

Calling a home "Energy Efficient" conjures images of homes with contemporary designs with no windows. Not so with the ENERGY STAR concept. The idea behind this program is to take conventional house designs and use software to evaluate the home's energy efficiency. The builder and energy analyst then make changes to components of the home to make it more energy efficient. Changes include improving the insulation in certain areas of the home, using the right type of insulation for the application, routing the heating and cooling ducts to be more efficient, and so on. These improvements do not change the look of the home but can have huge effects on how efficient the home is to heat and cool. ENERGY STAR certification is a collaboration between the builder, energy analyst, tradesmen, and the homeowner.

Not many builders have adopted the concepts of ENERGY STAR in southern New Hampshire. Over the last four years, demand for new housing has increased dramatically causing the price of land in New Hampshire to increase. During this same period, building costs have increased an average of 10 percent per year. This has forced new home prices to rise. Builders have struggled to keep costs low and build homes faster to keep up with the demand. Taking the time and effort to make the home more energy-efficient has not been high on the list of priorities. According to Horizon Energy, in July 2005 about 200 homes were being built to ENERGY STAR standards out of the over 4,400 new residential homes being built through July.

Not all houses being built are the same. So to meet the energy efficiency standards set by the EPA, each house is evaluated and built a little differently. This takes time and attention to detail. Furthermore, there are few subcon­tractors, such as heating contractors, insulators, and electricians, who are willing to take the time to learn the techniques required to con­tribute to the efficiency of the home. Without, a supply of knowledgeable subcontractors the job of the builder is more difficult.

Making a home energy efficient takes more than adding insulation and installing some EN­ERGY STAR-labeled windows. "You have to evaluate the living space enve­lope as a whole and make construction choices based on proven techniques to control air infil­tration and heat loss. Then it takes attention to the construction details to make it work," says Wes Riley of Horizon Energy, a Concord firm of­ten hired by Public Service of NH to evaluate and monitor ENERGY STAR construction. "There are builders who are using EN­ERGY STAR labeled windows and calling their home 'energy efficient,' but this is misleading. They are not doing the hard work to make the home really perform to high standards of efficiency." Even minor construction details, like the way electrical wires are run in the walls, can have an impact on the way a home performs. "Caulking holes where the wires enter electri­cal boxes and where wires pass between living spaces affects the performance of the home." Riley says. "These are details that can not be seen but they contribute to the performance. We try to work with the builder and the home-owner to achieve the efficiency rating required without running up the cost of the home."

Of course there are homes being built that go to the extremes of energy efficiency by incorpo­rating exotic systems like geothermal heating systems, solar arrays and incorporating high tech materials. But these approaches are be­yond the reach of most homeowners and have very long pay back periods. Riley says, "It's not about spending lots of money but spending money on the right things." Builders have not had much demand for en­ergy-efficient housing. Energy prices have been going up and this trend is not expected to change over the long term. In September 2005, the price of home heating oil rose over 65 percent from where it was in 2004. At $2.67per gallon the cost of heating the average home cost about $800 more.

The cost benefits of owning an energy-effi­cient home will increase as fuel prices climb, but there are other benefits to an ENERGY STAR home. These homes maintain a more consistent temperature and have fewer drafts, so they are more comfortable. They use fewer resources and are less of a strain on our en­vironment than conventional homes. This is evidenced by the fact that PSNH supports the ENERGY STAR program with cash rebates and technical support.

Although currently there is not much aware­ness of the difference between a conventional home and an ENERGY STAR home, it will not be long before homes with this rating will fetch a higher price in the housing market, especially if energy prices remain high. The ENERGY STAR program was created by the EPA and heavily promoted by it. It is a pro­gram that is not likely to fade away and so the value it encourages will also last. Look at the impact the program has had on the whole electronic appliance industry. Buy­ers now look for the ENERGY STAR label on the products they buy. So it is likely that a homebuyer a few years from now will also look for that certificate on a home and will pay less if it doesn't have it.