It is good to see people calling a principal residence a liability. It is. I am tired of hearing it referred to as an investment. Just because the value might increase doesn't mean that it is a true investment.

When you stop making payments on your house, it will not make its own payments. That is what an investment does.

I hope more people start to learn this, too many people buy as much house as they can on 30 year notes and never invest enough in true profit yielding assets.

Call me crazy, but if you don't have the down payment and you don't have the savings yet then you might be better off to wait on the loan. Rent for a few months (or a couple of years) while you build up your savings and set aside for your budget. By then everything else will be in place as well.

True, many people think they are throwing away money when they rent, but so is paying interest, taxes and upkeep. Waiting a couple of years and building up a good down payment is a better investment than buying unprepaired by far.

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The original post was from a long time ago, but I would just like to chime in and say I hope no one is planning on buying a house in the current economic crisis. If you would like me to elaborate on why you will lose money just ask, but it is almost a guaranteed loss at the current state of the not only the US, but world wide economies.

Have you owned a home before? If not, you might qualify for some type of first-time buyer program, such as FHA or USDA. I just bought my first home with a USDA loan with zero down payment back in April. In fact, my mortgage company is in Florida and I live in Maine. The process was so much easier than I ever expected, even though my credit report had a few blemishes. The only thing with USDA is that the location of the home has to be in an area that qualifies for a USDA home loan. Good luck!

I have found that going to a local community bank is a great place to start, especially if you already have a relationship with them.