Home Buying for the Obsessive

Here's a new directions for my blog - we are pre-approved for a home loan and might start looking as early as August. Of course, the real problem is that we don't have any cash. If only we had some assets to liquidate, but we don't. So, we need to start saving our pennies. Because even if you get a Zero-down loan, that doesn't mean you don't need to have a lot of cash around. Ugh. We actually need about 3% of the price of the home in cash to give away, right away!

I am really excited, though, to start chronicling my obsession with home-buying on my blog. Maybe that will make me not bore people in person with it. First things first, I hate when bank people just skim over the details. I have a couple of questions that I only realize later the mortgage lady should have covered. Why does my pre-approval letter have one interest rate for the loan, but then also quotes an A.P.R that is a full percentage point higher? That seems important. Also, what are discount points and why is it that none of the other first-timers I talk to don't know what they are either? Maybe they're for richer people only.

Here's my other thing - I love the real estate web sites. They are better than ebay, better than sale sections, better than The New York Times, for sucking up time. They are even better than blogging for helping me avoid other things. Better than dirty dishes!