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Vanessa Said:

what is better? My husband and I are looking at homes within the 150-160 thousand range.?

We Answered:

Put price aside when you consider buying a home, and think instead about those towns where you wish to live. Focus on those issues that are important to you (Good schools? Reasonable taxes? Commuting distance? Access to public transportation). Make sure to carefully inspect your prospective home (termites? radon gas? major potential repairs to plumbing, electrical, or heating systems?). As make sure to careful inspect the neighborhood (I once looked at house in a beautiful neighborhood that appeared low in price, until I realized that hidden from view was the country landfill less than a half a mile away).

In most cases, if you purchase a house within a desirable community, you will stand a good chance for equity growth and the occasional mood swings within the market will not impact you as much as homes within marginal communities.

You can never underestimate the power of research. Your best house deals occur when you understand a specific housing marketing, so you know when you see a price that is below market. Every town has an assessor's office which can give you a sense of a house's fair market value...and the local county should have records on hand of all the recent home sales in specific neighborhoods. My wife knew exactly where she wanted to move when we purchased our first house, and when a home came available, we were ready to act quickly.

Try as hard as you can to put down as much money as you can, and don't over extend yourself when it comes to monthly payments (don't forget to calculate your taxes and insurance and occasional home repairs.). It can sometimes take a couple of house ownerships before you can buy that dream house (that happened to me, for instance), but in most cases home ownership represents a better financial bargain than renting.