Step 1: Setting a budget

If you're tired of renting and ready to buy a home, it's a good idea to get your budget in order. Here are 4 tips to ensure a future home purchase.

Free mortgage calculator with PMI that calculates what you can expect to spend on your home loan. Includes charts, amortization tables, taxes and insurance.

Pre-approval may be the first step towards getting a mortgage, but you’ll need to get some things in order first.When you’re ready to start the home-buying process, begin by following this pre-pre-approval checklist—and you’ll be in a great position to secure the mortgage you need to buy the home you want.

How to set a realistic monthly budget with expenses for home ownership. Includes a link to a free excel spreadsheet.

When you're considering buying a home, the amount of your down payment plays an important role.

Asking yourself, "How much should I borrow?" instead of, "How much could I borrow?" is an important distinction. Rather than focusing on the largest loan amount you could possibly get from a mortgage or home equity line of credit, this approach focuses on the amount that comfortably fits your budget.

By Amy FontinelleSo you've picked out some locations you're interested in and thought about the style of home that suits you best. Now it's time for some planning of the less fun variety. Before you start looking at houses and, somewhat counterintuitively, before you start shopping for a loan, you need to figure out how much home you can afford.

A recent survey from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling indicates that more people would be embarrassed to admit their credit scores (30%) than their weight (12%). While crash diets don’t usually work and can be unhealthy, it is possible to change your credit score fairly quickly. But just as with [...]

4 (Perfectly Legal) Credit Score Hacks

A credit score takes into account years of past behavior. Still, here is how you can increase your credit score today.