My Dos and Don'ts to Home Buying

I heard buying a house is one of the top three most stressful milestones in your life. What I didn't know is that it would actually be stressful.

Here's what I've learned so far on my unsuccessful venture to buying our first home.

1. Property taxes matter--the higher they are, the higher your monthly payments will be. Even if you're getting an amazing deal on a house that's listed for half of what it's worth and is now in your price range, the property taxes may not fit within your pre-approval budget.
2. Do not be a temporary employee
3. Do not have debt
4. Do have great credit (you'll need debt to have good credit; it's a fine line and a not fun game. Fortunately both Mike and I have outstanding credit.)
5. Do not get attached--Seriously. I don't know how to not get attached, but I advise you to do your best to hate or mildly like houses.
6. Get a pre-approval in writing up front so you know what your price range is. Don't deviate too far from this.
7. Have an awesome real estate agent; we love ours!
8. Do have patience. 
9. Know all your loan options--We have a loan originator who is working her butt off crunching numbers for each house we're interested in, and doing her best to get us our absolute maximum loan amount. I realize this conflicts with #6, but we're a special case in that I cannot be on the loan because I'm a temp, even though I'm the one that has a higher income. So she knows we can afford what we want, but the underwriter can only do what they can do. It is what it is, folks.
10. Unless you're rich, you'll need to compromise and make trade-offs. You can't always have everything on your wish list.
11. Don't settle. We have seen so many houses that are really close to what we want, but aren't quite right. Yes you need to compromise on your wish list, but do not settle for less than what you want or deserve. You'll be mad and full of regrets every day you come home, and most certainly every month you right your mortgage check!