Q and A: If You’re Thinking About Buying A Home

We’ve had some discussion on this board about the merits of buying versus renting as well as where to look for information when you’re getting ready to purchase a home. So I thought I’d compile a list of online resources to find out just about everything you need to know before you get ready to make your next purchase.

Question: Should I make the leap to buy a home?

Answer: Go to SmartMoney.com’s real estate section to get an idea of the value of buying versus renting. They have a calculator that inputs a number of factors like how long you plan on staying in a home, what the purchase price of the home would be, and how much down payment you’ll be putting down.

Question: How do I find out how much I can afford?

Answer: There are a number of online calculators out there. One that I liked was CNNMoney.com’s calculator. They assume a maximum debt-to-income ratio of 36%, so the numbers will be more realistic when you keep in mind other expenses in life. Check out the variables to get a better idea of how practical the numbers are. For instance, I punched some numbers into E-Loan’s calculator and according to them, I could afford a much fancier pad (not!).

Question: How do I find out what homes have sold for and what they are selling for?

Answer: Search through Redfin’s interactive map. (Yeah, you knew this one was coming, right?) You can see what the homes on the market look like, what their sale history is, and even what comparable homes sold for. And yes, it’s also the perfect place to actually find the home you want, too.

Question: Where can I find out more in-depth information about the neighborhood demographics for a property I’m searching for?

Answer: PropertyShark.com (as I’ve mentioned before) is my favorite standby. You can get information on the median income of folks in the area, the median age range, and the amount of racial diversity. It’s where I go to dig up missing info about a property’s square footage and history, too.

Question: Where can I go to see how the overall market in a specific neighborhood is doing?

Answer: From Playa del Rey on the coast to West Covina in the east and everything in between, scan the monthly home resale charts on the DQNews.com site. You can quickly get an idea of which markets are dropping fast and which ones are on the rise (yes, some markets really are!).