About Our Home-Buying Process: Index of Posts
I’m trying to build a coherent series on the home-buying process, so to help me organize here is an index of posts that I’ve already written so far. Those with no links are outlines for future posts. If you think something is missing or want me to cover a specific topic, just leave a comment. Thanks!
Should I Buy A House?
Buying a house isn’t necessarily the best choice for everyone. There are lots of different pros and cons.
- Famous Housing Bubble Graph (Different Version)
- Interactive Buy vs. Rent Calculator
- Another Buy Vs. Rent Calculator
- Intangible Advantages And Disadvantages Of Owning A Home
- Are Homes Actually A Horrible Investment?
Finding a Real Estate Agent
- Finding A Buyer’s Agent, Part 1: The Search Begins With Ourselves
- Finding A Buyer’s Agent, Part 2: Screening, Trial and Error, Signing a Contract, Offer Acceptance
- Home Buyer’s Agent Commission Rebates
- Guidance Received During The Escrow and Closing Process
- Looking Back: Things I Would Have Done Differently
Finding and Choosing A Home
If you do want to buy a house, what do you look for in a home?
- Our Criteria For A House (How Did We Do?)
- Housings Prices vs. Commute Time
- Condo Living: How Do I Find A Good Homeowners Association?
- Gathering Local Statistics About A Housing Market
- How Many Square Feet Should Our Home Have?
- Open Houses From A Buyer’s Perspective
Mortgage Basics: Choosing Loan Types
You found a home, so how are you going to pay for it?
- How Much House You Can Afford?
- Effect Of Credit Score On Mortgage Rates and Monthly Payments
- Choosing a Fixed-Rate Mortgage Term Length: 15, 30, or 40 Years?
- Loan Payment vs. Term Length
- Avoiding Jumbo Loans By Combining a Conforming Loan and Second Loan
Mortgage Practicalities: Choosing A Specific Lender & Interest Rate/Points
- Homeowners: Who Did You Get Your Mortgage Through?
- Getting Pre-Qualified For A Mortgage
- Comparison Shopping Between Different Mortgage Lenders
- Upfront Mortgage Brokers
- Upfront Direct Mortgage Lenders
- When To Lock Your Rate / Can You Predict Mortgage Rates?
- Reading The Good Faith Estimate
Making An Offer, Inspections, Escrow, and Closing
- Making and reading the offer contract
- Ordering Inspections, Asking For Concessioins
- Snags and Delays
- Signing Day
Housing-Related Humor
Buying a house is a serious and stressful endeavor. Watching these videos is not. 
- Bikini Girls + Waterfalls + 90s Real Estate Guru = Tom Vu
- Renting Can Be Rough: The Landlord with Will Ferrell
- Find the Right Property For You…
By Jonathan Ping | Real Estate | 3/4/08, 3:57am
![Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture [Book Review]](http://cdn.mymoneyblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/cheap97.jpg)
March 4th, 2008 at 5:52 am
Great stuff, Jonathan. It looks like you have the making of an eBook here!
March 4th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Before moving the mouse over that picture I thought that was your new house. That house looked amazing lol. I’m sure yours is not to shabby either though.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:15 am
That looks like a dream house, something I would have liked as a kid. But now, I just want a one level sprawling ranch, with like 3000 square feet, 3 1/2 baths. Easy to clean, do laundry and vacuum.
The giant colonial is gorgeous, but really you’d need a couple of maids to help out or you’d spend your life cleaning. No Thanks! I’m tired just looking at it!
March 4th, 2008 at 10:43 am
I don’t think a couple maids would be a problem financially if you can afford a house like that…
March 4th, 2008 at 10:50 am
I would be interested in seeing something on PMI. I have having a hard time getting my lender to take it off even though I qualify. Plus, I was totally clueless about PMI when took out my loan. The learning process has cost me hundreds of dollars. I’m sure lots of people could benefit from some PMI 101.
March 4th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
May I ask where your house is located? Is it in California?
March 4th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
This is really great. A nice compilation of information for buying a house. This would have really helped when I bought mine. I had to search through multiple sources online to dig up the information I was looking for.
March 4th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Ha, I just like that picture because it’s so enormous and over-the-top. The actual house we bought is pretty ugly from the outside in my opinion. (No huge columns I’m afraid!) It’s not that great from the inside either right now, but we’ll have to fix that ourselves.
March 4th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
hehe, i am wondering, if Jonathan post a picture of white house on the top of the blog, will there be score of readers asking him “wow, you bought white house?!”
March 4th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
LOL you gotta love those videos! But I knew that wasn’t your house
March 7th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Wow, what a great amount of information! Because I’m lazy, I don’t want to follow every link to find out, but out of curiosity, where did you park your downpayment money? I’m currently saving for a house and am keeping the downpayment cash in a highish interest savings account. What was your experience with downpayment building?
Thanks! Love the blog!
March 11th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Need a bullet for Home Insurance. Who did you go with and why?
March 16th, 2008 at 11:49 am
[...] The home buying process: an index of posts. [My Money Blog] [...]
March 28th, 2008 at 5:24 am
[...] post is a new addition to my Series on Buying A Home. Bookmark or Share: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
March 29th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
[...] did come across one really good setup at the My Money Blog. I haven’t had a chance to read every article and if you look at the list there is more to [...]
April 11th, 2008 at 9:03 am
I noticed that nothing has been posted on Inspections yet. However, I was wondering if different things need to be considered when getting an inspection on a newly constructed property versus any other property. I have heard that a town or city will need to inspect newly constructed properties prior to issuing approval to sell. If this is the case, are there other reasons to get a newly constructed property inspected prior to purchasing?
April 25th, 2008 at 7:37 am
[...] post is a new addition to my Experiences in Buying A Home. Photo credit: melindashelton Bookmark or Share: These icons link to social bookmarking sites [...]