I met with a Realtor who advised me to talk to a mortgage lender. I spent a few moments with the lender who asked me questions about my income and my debts and assets. We also talked about, based on my income, the size of my monthly mortgage payments and how much I could comfortably invest every month in a home. She was then able to tell me the price range of homes that would be affordable for me. To my surprise, the price range the mortgage lender suggested to me was a bit lower than the neighborhood I was looking in. Actually, it was substantially lower! All the time I had spent going to open houses, driving around neighborhoods and reading the newspaper was wasted. I was able to regroup and start looking in different areas for my new home, but I wonder how many great homes were bought up by people who knew what they were looking for while I was out spinning my wheels?
