House (Loan) Hunting

So we are embarking on our first attempt to buy a home. I remember when I was buying my car and the loan officer (who was wonderful and made the whole thing nearly easy) remarked that the only experience worse than buying a car is buying a house. Then I thought "Well, gee, this has been pretty easy, so buying a house can't be that bad....." Enter the loan pre-approval nightmare of looking everywhere for a home loan that is affordable and reasonable, not to mention looking for the actual structure that will be my abode for years to come: I hope the FHA comes through for us and I hope that we can find a house we can afford in a neighborhood that does not necessitate me carrying a bright pink tazer just to walk to my car.

So we start the loan finding process. Calling lenders and brokers to see who has the best programs and rates for us takes a lot of time! And then they tell others that you're looking for a loan and it's like a swarm of locusts coming to eat all your time away as they try to make the most off you by making it sound that they are doing you the biggest favor.

Then there are the realtors who have their own areas of expertise, be it in locations of houses or type of bank loans! If we have a wide area to search for a house, one real estate agent might not know all the areas well and so we might get a good house in a bad area: we don't know the area, either!

And then there are the questions you must answer and everyone is trying to educate you on how to buy a house. Do you know that FHA loans are only for houses that do not have exposed wiring or toilet trouble (a non-habitable house)? I didn't! Or that you could buy a non-habitable house but between escrow and closing there is another loan that you could apply for to get the house to "habitable"-ness before closing the deal? I didn't!


Holy Moly that loan officer was right, this IS the biggest maelstrom of confusion and craziness that just might end up in the biggest purchase of my as-yet financially unblemished life!