Houston Texas Home Buying Resources

Houston Home Buyers Assistance Program for Low to Moderate Income Buyers.
Max income for a single person is $34,150.00 - Max income for a family of 2 is $39,050
Click for details

My Community Mortgage Program allows 0 down payment & extra low rate for first 2 years.
Household income limit 60,900. Click for details

Don't Pay Too Much for Your First Home!

Learn Tips to Sell Your Home Quickly for Top Dollar

When you are looking to buy a home in Houston the internet has many resources to help you with your search. Your home is quite likely the largest investment you will ever make, so don't settle for having a real estate agent show you two or three houses and then buying something. Take your time and do some research before you decide what part of town you want to live in. Is the home in a flood plain? What is the tax rate for the area? What are similar homes selling for in the area? I have often heard that it is a good idea to get out and just walk the neighborhood. This will let you really get a feel for the place and give you the time to notice things you won't just driving through in a car. Your home and your car are probably the most expensive things you buy in your life, yet people expect us to look at them for 10 minutes and make a decision. I bet you put a lot more time into deciding what shoes to buy.

Why are you renting when you can buy a small house in a nice neighborhood for under $70,000.00? That comes to about 466.00 a month plus about 250 a month for taxes and insurance. That is $716.00 a month or less depending on your down payment, cost of the home and interest rate. The houses are small but at least you will be putting money into something you can sell when you are ready for a bigger place. Click to view these home listed at $75,000 and under. Click to view more low priced home listings. Stop throwing money away on rent because you think you can't afford your own home. Click to find out more about first time home buyers down payment assistance programs. There are a lot of low priced homes in nice neighboorhoods on the west side.

Mortgage calculators help you see how much home you can afford, or how much a mortgage company will say you can afford. Remember you have more expenses than what they consider. Buy a home that costs less than what they say you can afford. Owning a home doesn't mean you should have to spend every penny on your mortgage payment. A smaller home will probably mean less money spent on repairs, monthly utility bills and your taxes and insurance payments wll be less. Buy a home with a payment you will be comfortable with, not one that will take every dime you earn to pay for.

The first place you will want to start looking for a home is with the MLS real estate listings. The MLS listings will show you photos and locations of available homes. If you are looking for a fixer upper you will also want to check out the Homevesters^® web site. RealtyTrac is a good source for forclosure listings

When you are searching the MLS listings you can search by zip code if you know the part of town you want to live in. The Houston zip code map make it easy to find the code for the area you are interested in.

Use Zillow.com to look up the value of any home, this allows you to compare prices so you can arrive at a fair purchase or home sales price.

The city of Houston Crime Statistics web site will let you see the crime stats for your neighborhood. Houston Demographic information can be found on the City of Houston web site.

Check Harris County Flood Maps - put in the address of the home you are thinking about buying and see if it is in the flood plain.

Look at the satellite image of the house you are considering buying. This gives you a great overview of the entire neighborhood. You can also see if the new neighbors have a swimming pool. If they do there could be a lot of noise in the summer. Is there a bayou behind the house that could flood? These aerial maps can show you a lot of things you might not even have considered. Might as well take a birds eye view of the place.

After you buy your home and before you have your electricity turned on, check out Power to Choose and find the best electricity rates for your area. Just enter your zip code in the upper right hand corner of their web site to find the best electric rates for your area.

Don't Forget to Hire a Houston Home Inspector You need to hire a home inspector even if you buy a new home or are just remodeling a home. A new home builder may try to tell you the home has already been inspected and besides it is under warranty. You need a home inspector that works for you. There may be costly hidden defects that won't show up for years, after your new home warranty is expired. Visit the Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings web site and view their complaint database. V.I.P.. Home Inspections has Hall of Shame pictures on their site showing problems with new homes. Be sure your home inspector uses a Moisture Meter to detect hidden moisture problems behind walls. Educate yourself so you know you are getting a good home inspection. Buy a book on home inspection and learn how to spot obvious problems before you even decide if you want the house. If you are selling your home a book on home inspection will let you know what an inspector will look for and you can fix the problems before you sell. Get free, instant home valuations Address (optional) City, State OR ZIP

You may want to check your credit report before you apply for a new home loan. A new law requires this information to be provided to you free once a year. Check Annual Credit Report for more information.

Citi® Home Rebate Platinum Select® MasterCard® Card rebates are applied directly to your mortgage principal. Even if you don't have a mortgage yet you can get the card and starting saving for your new home. Paying extra principal every month on your home mortgage will reduce the amount of interest you pay on the home loan. Use this card for things you pay for in full every month like your utilities, cable and food bills. I can see no reason why anyone would not want to take advantage of an offer that helps pay off your mortgage! Every little bit helps so you need to learn to spend smarter.

For larger purchases that you don't pay in full every month you need a 0% interest credit card. Chase Platinum offers 0% interest for up to 15 months. If you are buying a new home and you have good credit you can really take advantage of this card offer.

Harris County Constable Foreclosure Auction Listings are available at the Daily Court Review web site

Teachers can buy a HUD home for 50% off the list price. Click for all the details on the Teacher Next Door Program.

Houston Home Buyers Assistance Program for Low Income Buyers. Click for details