Once you've determined your price range, it's time to start looking at houses. But where should you look, and what can you expect to find? In all likelihood, no one home will have everything you want. But the home you ultimately purchase should meet as many of your expectations as possible. A key to the entire process is narrowing your search and not wasting time looking at every property.

Begin to develop a list of expectations that you have for your new home. Some of the items on the list will describe the interior, amenities and size of the house. Location, lifestyle and availability will also come into play. Commuting distance to work, to public transportation and the quality of area schools are all considerations that might be on your list.

Your list of wants and needs is a reflection of you, the future home owner. Take the time to make the list, and review and update it throughout the entire home buying process. The more items on your list that your new home has, the happier you will be when you're living in it.

Before you can find the right house, you'll need to decide what type of home you want. There are a number of housing types to choose from, the most typical being

• Single-Family
• Condominium
• Multi-Family
• Fixer-Upper

Choosing a Location

After you've decided on the type of property you want to purchase, the next step is choosing the location. There are several considerations:

• How far are you willing to commute to work or how close is highway access?
• Will you be close to shopping, churches, day care facilities and recreational facilities?
• Is there public transportation nearby, which could eliminate the need for a second car.
• Will public schools meet the educational needs of your children, or will you have to enroll them in private schools?

By answering these questions, you can narrow down the number of towns where you look for a home. Again, prioritize which attributes are most important to you, both in terms of location and the home itself. Would you trade a larger yard for highway access, public transportation for shopping and restaurants, a shorter commute for better public schools? With your list of wants and needs in hand, you will be better equipped to research and identify towns that best suit your desired lifestyle.

As you start to visit open houses and other properties for sale, consider the exhaustion factor. It's not just a matter of being physically tired, it's the fact that after a while, all the houses start to look the same. Therefore, keep in mind the following:

• Bring a notepad and map with you. Mark the location of each house on the map and write down special features on the notepad.
• If the owner offers you a fact sheet, save it even if you don't seem interested in the house at the time. Later on, you may think about it and realize the home had more appeal than you had initially thought.
• Never look at more than three houses at once. After that, you're no longer being careful; you're just running through, and not paying attention to the details that could help you find your dream home.
• If you are going to look at a lot of houses, take big breaks. See three homes in the morning, then stop and have lunch. See three more, then stop and do something else. See three more in the evening. Nine houses in one day is the absolute capacity for almost any prospective buyer. Even with nine, the features of one home will begin to blend in with those of the others.
• Get a camera and snap pictures of the houses that appeal to you. The images of the interior and exterior will jar your memory and help you recall the details of that property. Frequently, agents or owners will provide photocopied pictures; be sure to grab copies when they are available.
• Make a rough-sketch of the floor plans of the homes you consider to be top contenders.
• Ask questions. Many buyers worry that the agent will think them foolish if they ask questions. But remember, there are no foolish questions!
• As a first-time home buyer, you will want to know everything you can about each property. Often, one question about pipes, heating or cooling systems, taxes, age of the home or recent repairs will lead to other questions. You may find areas of concern about a specific property that, initially, looked trouble-free.

Remember, it is far better to know about a house's problems before you buy than it is to discover them once you own the property.

There are a number of resources that will help you find the right house for you. For instance:

• Area newspapers
  
• Driving around in search of For Sale signs
• Talking and working with real estate agents
• Checking bulletin boards at the office, or in and around the neighborhoods in which you are planning to buy
• Talking to friends, acquaintances, and people at work
• Using the Internet for research. Try the following: www.homefind.com, and www.realtor.com

If you decide to do the house shopping on your own, gather information about various communities in which you can afford to buy. Find out what the neighborhoods offer in terms of schools, public transportation, shopping, safety, recreation, and accessibility to work.

An easier way may be to contact a real estate agent. In a single conversation, a real estate agent can give you information that might take you several weeks to gather on your own. Agents can be excellent sources of information. However, when it comes to actually buying a house, remember, real estate agents work for the seller not the buyer.

The agent is able to select homes from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), a computerized system that lists all registered properties for sale by market area. In a matter of minutes, a real estate agent can perform an online search of properties for a prospective home buyer.

Another home buying resource is a buyer's broker. Unlike the typical real estate agent, buyer's brokers work exclusively the buyer. The buyer's broker can be paid directly by the buyer, or can be given a portion of the commission earned by the property seller's agent. The payment arrangement is usually determined up front when you are negotiating with the buyer's broker.