Buying a house, need advice?

My husband is being promoted. ALtogether after the promotion he will make about $45000. I work part time out of the house, but I don't make much. We want to start a family, but we want to buy a house first. WE think 3 bed should do it, but we want to make sure we have a good investment. What steps should we take? We already got our credit scores and they are rated good.

I'm in East Central Illinois near Kankakee.
We just transferred here from Portland, OR so we don't know the area well. I heard Kankakee is kinda dumpy though. I'd rather not live there.

First and for-most, go to Mortgage Loan officer (ask friends and family who they recommend) and get pre-approved. Only cost of that should be the cost of your credit report that they have to pull (they can't use the one you have and it does cost them money). DO NOT get "pre-qualified", it's not worth anything to be pre-qualified. After you are pre-approved, you know what price range you can have (but know that you will most likely be approved for more than you really SHOULD be, so know your comfort zone for payments). Find a great Realtor and give them your pre-approval letter. You have a higher likely hood of getting the house you want if the seller knows for sure you can get the loan for it.
Best of luck!

Find a good buyer's agent Realtor in your area to help you with a property search. And get pre-approved from a mortgage company. I work for an ERA Real estate office in PA, you can call ERA mortgage for a free pre-approval to find out just what price range you can start looking for. 1-888-307-8303

depends where you live. the property prices have doubled in the last year alone in some cities and ordinary peeps can no longer afford to buy houses...
you have to calculate what you make, what are your expenses, bills, insurance, groceries, food, every expense you have -everything -total and how much money is left after all.
then calculate if that is sufficient enough for mortgage payment, of course plus some left over for what ever else that is not counted in the expenses, and yes there will be those times...
after all is said and done...see if you can afford it for the next 30 years if that is the plan...

and yeah, make sure it is an FHA program and the seller pays all the fees, not you. good luck.

Get "approval" for a loan from a lender. This is not the same thing as getting a loan. It just says that they will probably give you a loan once you have found a house you want.

It is a good idea not to look for a house that is going to be more than 25% to 50% of your monthly income. A good way to guess what your mortgage payment will be is approximately 10% of the asking price of the house you are looking for (that would then include not only the mortgage loan, but taxes and insurance).

Research which area you can find a three bedroom for the price you can afford and be sure to check into the schools. They have a lot to do with the value of a home/neighborhood--especially since you are wanting to start a family.

I am an agent in SC and agree with what he said. Get a buyers agent in your area and he/she can help you out and answer any questions that you have.

I should preface this by telling you that I am a Realtor in the Phoenix area. As I don鈥檛 know where you are I have no idea as to the housing market. I concur with the people that answered before me in that you may want to talk to a lender, or even use an online home affordability calculator (I believe that there is one on www.realtor.com) so that you have a starting point as to the price of the home that you can afford with a payment that you are comfortable with. Then find a Realtor that you are comfortable with, find one that is going to work for you not the other way around. Most of the time, they will work with you, at first, for no cost or obligation. They may ask you to sign a buyer-broker agreement at some point in time. You are also able to do some research at the website of a real estate company in your area and search the MLS at your leisure.

If you are in the Phoenix area drop me a line, I will be more than happy to get you started in the right direction toward finding your dream home at no cost or obligation to you.

Dont know the answer 2 your question but if your gonna live in kankakee go to the west side of town,the rest is a ghetto.