Finally, talk to a real estate agent and ask for advice. Ask them what the market is like in your area.

Best of all, there are LOTS of sellers out there right now. Inventory is high. If you make an offer, ask for incentives to buy that particular home.

If you are putting ten percent down or more, you can ask for up to six percent of the purchase price in incentives. These incentives cannot be rebates of cash or help with down payment, but you can ask the seller to pay your closing costs. You can also ask the seller to pay for a temporary interest rate "buydown" that lowers your payment over the first one to three years and still gets you the security of a fixed rate mortgage -- and fixed rates are very low right now.

If you're putting down five percent or less, you can still ask for incentives. The amount you can ask for is limited to three percent of the purchase price. The reason there are limits is because you are going to finance the purchase with a mortgage and lenders have guidelines on how much sellers can provide in incentives. Those guidelines help them limit loan fraud.

Talk to a real estate agent. Have that agent recommend a lender who will talk to you about incentives and explain what you can request.

Good luck.
West Ranch Properties