Home Buying Grants 101

Home buying grants are a popular subject among home buyers. And why wouldn't they be? The very word "grant" suggests free money, and any home buyer could use free money.

But there's more to home buying grants than simply applying for the grant and getting the money. Home buying grants run the gamut from government-sponsored grants to private grants. The question is, where do you begin? How do know if you're qualified for a home buying grant? And if you are qualified, how do you apply for a home buying grant?

To help you learn more about grants for home buying, we've gathered a few resources:

Your Guide to Federal Grants

The Federal Government and Private Grant Foundations issue billions of dollars in grant money to a variety of groups each year. How would you like to obtain such a grant for home buying purposes? If you want to learn more about the many grants available and how you can use them for home buying purposes, I strongly recommend you visit this guide to federal grants. Go there now

Info on Grants for Buying a Home

Home Buying Grants from HUD
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is a good source for information on home buying grants. Though HUD does not make grants directly to home buyers, they do "work through local governments and non-profit organizations to make financial assistance available."

Home Buying Grants in Your State
This is another great resource on the HUD website. It lists home buying grant programs (and low-income home buying programs) offered in various state. Just click your state's link to learn about home buying grants in your area.

Low-Income Home Buying Grants
This article on CNN Money does a decent job explaining the concept of low-income home buying, including home buying grants. This article will give you a solid understanding on what "home buying grant" means ... and what it doesn't mean.

Grants for Home Buying in Your State
Here's a trick you can use to find home buying grant information in your city and/or state. Using a major search engine like Google or Yahoo, enter the phrase "home buying grants" followed by the plus sign, followed by your city name (or state name). For example, if I wanted information on home buying grants in Texas, I would enter the following into Google:

home buying grants +texas

We hope this guide to home buying grants has helped you better understand what these grants can do for home buyers, and what they can't do.

Happy home buying!

~Brandon

Buying a Home With No Money Down

Buying a home with no money down is a hot topic among home buyers. The reasons are somewhat obvious. Some people simply don't have the money to put down for a new home.

This is the primary reason for buying a home with no money down. But whatever the motivation, there's a lot to learn before you're ready to buy a home with no money down. That's why we've created this mini-tutorial on the subject.

The articles below will help you learn more about buying a home with no money down.

Buying a Home With Little Down
This home buying article on CNN Money offers some insight into buying a home with little money down. An excerpt: "In general, the less you put down, the better your credit needs to be. Also, smaller down payments typically mean slightly higher interest rates, not to mention private mortgage insurance (PMI)."

Buying a Home With Little or No Cash
This Wells Fargo chart shows the kinds of programs you can use to buy a home with no money down (or with a minimal down payment). Note: these programs are specific to Wells Fargo. Other lenders may not offer these same options for no-money-down home buying.

No-Money-Down Home Buying
This article at BankRate.com explains your options for buying a home with no money down. An excerpt: "For many potential buyers, the problem is coming up with a down payment to make this all-important purchase. This should not be the case. It is possible to buy a home with nothing down, meaning no down payment."

Buying a Home with Poor Credit and No Money Down
This article throws another variable into the mix. It talks about buying a home with no money down and poor credit.

Conclusion
If you're trying to buy a home with no money down, this mini-tutorial is only a starting point for your education process. These articles will put you on the path to further research, and that's a good thing. When it comes to buying a home with no money down, you can never know too much about the programs and options available to you.

Happy home buying!

~Brandon

New Home Buying Tips

What makes buying a new home different from buying an older home? What new home buying tips should home buyers be aware of?

These are common questions asked by people buying a new home ... especially when they are first-time home buyers. So, in true Home Buying Institute fashion, I've gathered as many new home buying tips as I could find. Some are on this website, others are new home buying tips from around the Web. Taken together, they encompass 90% of what you should know about buying a new home.

New Home Buying Tips: AmericanHomeGuides.com
This page is actually a series of articles, each one built around a particular new home buying tip. Very in-depth and informative!

How to Buy a New Construction Home
This article is another in-depth look at the process of buying a new home. Full of new home buying tips and advice.

Tips on Buying a New Home
This is a "step-by-step home buying guide through the new home buying process. It's a well-designed tutorial full of new home buying tips, and divided into sections based on the parts of the new home buying process.

Questions and Answers About Buying a New Home
This article answers 100 of the most common question that new home buyers ask. With 100 hundred home buying questions listed, they're bound to have an answer to yours! An excellent list of new home buying tips.

101 Steps to a Smoother Home Buying Process
I created this article myself, and I'm quite proud of it. It lives up to its name, offering 101 new home buying tips. Most of the tips contain links to more information too, so it's full of "jump off" points for further learning!

I hope this list of new home buying tips helps you to better understand the home buying process. And I wish you the best of luck buying your new home.

~Brandon

Home Inspection Tips

This blog post is a mini-tutorial on home inspections. I hope these home inspection tips will make your home buying process a smooth one. For more home inspection, see the articles listed below.

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The home inspection is one of the most important parts of the home buying process. Without a home inspection, you are spending a lot of money on an unknown quantity. That's never a good idea. But with a home inspection, you can enjoy the comfort of knowing your home has been reviewed by a professional, inside and out.

The articles below offer home inspection tips that can make your home inspection process easy and effective.

7 Questions to Ask a Home Inspector
This home inspection tip is basically a script you can print out have handy when calling home inspectors. Ask your home inspector these seven questions, at a minimum, to judge his level of experience.

Getting Your Home Inspected
This article provides a general overview of the home inspection process. It also offers a variety of home inspection tips to help you get the most out of your inspection.

Don't Skip the Home Inspection
This article is by Mark Nash, author of the book 1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home. In this article, Mark offers a variety of home inspection tips and pointers that will give you a solid understanding of the home inspection process.

Off-site Resources
I've rounded up some home inspection tips and resources from other websites and presented them below. I hope these home inspection tips, coupled with what I've listed above, give you a clear understanding of the home inspection process.

• Home Inspection Tips from HUD
• Inspection Advice from About.com
• Tips on Reading a Home Inspection Report
• Tips for Choosing a Home Inspector

Happy home buying!

~Brandon

The Mortgage Process Explained

The mortgage process can be intimidating to a first-time home buyer. Especially the mortgage application process, when you're entire financial history is put onto paper.

But the mortgage process doesn't have to be scary. Nor should the mortgage application cause you to lose sleep. If you have a basic understanding of the mortgage process -- and if you're honest and accurate on your mortgage application -- you have very little to worry about.

The Mortgage Process
There are several articles on the home buying website that explain the basic steps to the mortgage process. These articles are a great place to start, because they will frame the mortgage process in your mind and help you learn more about the individual steps. Here are some I recommend reading:

Basic Steps to Apply for a Mortgage
In this article, Mark Keller lays out the basic mortgage process in step-by-step fashion. Sure, the mortgage process will vary slightly from one person to another. But Mark does a good job outlining the fundamentals.

The Mortgage Application Process
This article focuses on the mortgage application -- the paperwork part of obtaining a mortgage loan.

Mortgage Glossary: The A-to-Z of Mortgage Loans
Sometimes the thing that intimidates home buyers (about the mortgage process) is the terminology itself. This article defines 42 of the most common mortgage phrases. Memorize the terms on this page, and you'll never be confused by mortgage jargon again.

Types of Home Loans: A Buyer's Guide
I always recommend this article for general mortgage education, but it's also great for understanding the mortgage process. When you understand the various types of mortgage, you'll have a much easier time with the first step of the mortgage process -- choosing a mortgage type!

I hope this mini-tutorial helps you better understand the mortgage process and the mortgage application. Because by understanding the process, it will be a lot less intimidating.

Happy home buying!

~Brandon

Improving Your Credit Score - New Article

Credit scores are on the minds of a lot of people, but especially home buyers.

When buying a home, mortgage lenders will put your credit score under a microscope. And when you think about it, it makes perfect business sense. They don't want to loan money to somebody they don't think has the capability to repay it.

But what can you do if your credit score is already bad? How do you improve your credit score to the point you can qualify for a good mortgage loan? That's the subject of a new article published in the credit section of Home Buying Institue.

In this excellent article, Arizona Realtor Bonny Puckett offers a four-part strategy to improving your credit score prior to buying a home.

Read Bonny's Article
4 Easy Tips for Increasing Your Credit Score

Happy home buying!

~Brandon

Sarasota Real Estate - New Resource Posted

Continuing our efforts to offer more information on of individual real estate markets, we recently added a new resource about Sarasota real estate.

With its beautiful beaches and barrier islands overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, Sarasota is a wonderful place to own a home. We hope this guide to Sarasota, Florida helps you learn more about this fine American city.

Sarasota, Florida Real Estate Guide

Happy home buying!

Buying a First Home - It Doesn't Have to be Scary

Buying a first home can be scary when you're not prepared for it. That's why at Home Buying Institute, we want to make sure you're well prepared for your first-time home buying process.

If I was asked to create an educational plan for first-time home buyers, it might go something like this:

First, learn the basics steps to buying a home. This will help you envision the process in your mind, from start to finish.

Next, learn about the different types of mortgage loans. When researching the various types of mortgages, pay attention to articles that cover the pros and cons of different mortgage types. Often, the key to finding the right mortgage is found within these "pros and cons" types of mortgage articles.

After all that, you're ready to find a real estate agent and begin your home buying process.

Happy home buying!

~Brandon

Scottsdale Real Estate Blog - Just Launched

In our continued efforts to increase our coverage of hot real estate markets in the U.S., we just started a blog about Scottsdale real estate.

Scottsdale offers a posh lifestyle in the middle of the Arizona desert. It offers plenty in the way of luxury real estate, and it's one of the top resort destinations in the U.S. (thanks to the many golf courses around the city).

There's also rattlesnakes in Scottsdale. Lots and lots of rattlesnakes. At least, that's how it seemed on a real estate show I saw on TLC lately. But hey ... it is the desert. Rattlesnakes and deserts go together like carrots 'n peas!

Happy home buying!

~Brandon

Roanoke, Virginia Real Estate - New Resource Posted

In our continuing effort to provide city-specific resources, we've just added a new home-buying resource page for Roanoke, Virginia real estate.

Okay, so Roanoke does not have the bustling real estate market as the other cities we've covered, such as San Diego. But it has the distinction of being the town where I grew up.

Though I no longer live there, I often think back fondly on Roanoke, Virginia. It's big enough to have everything you need, but not so big that it loses its southern charm and hospitality.

Here some fellow Roanoke natives you may have heard of:

Born in Roanoke:

• actor John Payne
• wrestler Tony Atlas
• twin NFL players Ronde Barber and Tiki Barber
• former United States Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson
• NBA basketball George Lynch
• singer Wayne Newton
• NFL football player Lee Suggs
• model and actress Tai Collins

Visit the resource page:
Roanoke, Virginia real estate

Happy home buying!

~Brandon

Real Estate Search Engines - A Good Review

Real estate search engines have exploded in recent years.

A lot of this has to do with Google. The search engine company allows webmasters to customize their Google Maps and Google Earth programs, and this has spurred an increase in the number of "map-driven" real estate search engines.

But with so many real estate search engines to choose from, where do you even start? And what is a real estate search engine, anyway.

Here's a good review of today's popular real estate search engines.

Happy home buying!

~Brandon

Phoenix Real Estate - New Resource Posted

We are pleased to announce a new addition to our city profiles. There's now a resources page for Phoenix real estate on the main website.

Phoenix, Arizona is a popular home buying destination. So popular, in fact, that it made Forbes Magazine's list of top-ten places to live in the U.S., and it appeared on a similar list by Money Magazine.

Why are so many people interested in buying a home in Phoenix? Well, visit our new resource on the Phoenix real estate scene, and you'll learn much more about it.

Go there now

P.S. - If you're interested in Phoenix, you might also want to see our resources page for Scottsdale, Arizona. Scottsdale was on the same "top ten" list at Money Magazine, but it outranked Phoenix by landing at #7.

Happy home buying!

~Brandon

House Hunting - How Do I Get Started?

Continuing our series on home buying questions, we now get to process of shopping for a home:

"How do I begin house hunting?"

House hunting is one of the most exciting parts of the home buying process. Not only are you shopping for a home, but you're also making one of the biggest financial investments of your life.

Here are some resources to help you get started:

• 10 Steps to House Hunting
• What to Ask When Looking at Homes
• Create a Home Buying Wish List

Happy home buying!

~Brandon