Buying your first home can be both exciting as well as stressful. Keeping in find a few crucial pointers can help ease the stress level and make the overall activity of researching and buying less time consuming.

Following are few effective tips/suggestions to help you get your dream house with less worry and more happiness:

1) Know your ideal price range:
It’s important to draw up a budget and stick to it while looking for a home. If you like a house but its monthly payment is more than you can afford, it’s better to move on. You may take guidance from your bank’s loan officer to arrive at a figure. He/she will be able to tell you the maximum amount the bank can lend and the interest rate. Though not accurate but you will be able to get a rough estimate of the price range that you can afford.

2) List down your non-negotiable features:
Starting from locality to space to amenities, make a list of features that you will not compromise on. Visit homes that are in, below and above your budget limits. Study how price differs with features, amenities provided and locality. Re-evaluate your list to what you are really looking for.

3) Contact a good real-estate agent:
Contact a realtor who knows about the area, the neighborhood and the market. A good realtor will save your house hunting time, will show you the options as per your requirements and in some cases will also guide you with his contacts of loan officers and real-estate attorneys, pre-informing you about all the documentation/approvals required.

4) Be flexible:
Be flexible with your closing date. Sometimes, may be the seller requires more time. It’s okay to be flexible while negotiating else a good option may just slip away from your hands.

5) Study the future prospects of the house:
Try knowing about the rate of appreciation of the house till date and its prospects for future. Figure out the future developmental plans and amenities of the locality.

Keeping in mind these tips and doing a little bit of research may change your nightmare of buying your first home into an exciting reality.