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Buying your first home and becoming a home owner is one of the most exciting steps in any person's life. With home loan purchase rates at the lowest they have been in decades, this is an opportune time to purchase a home. At Bad Credit Lender, we work with affiliate mortgage brokers who work hard to find you the lowest rate possible. We can help you analyze your financial situation quickly and efficiently, allowing you to have a solid understanding of what you can afford and how much a lender will reasonably allow you to borrow.

Buying your first home and acquiring a home loan can seem like a daunting task. The best way to approach getting a loan and finding a home is to take it one step at a time. Here are seven steps that will help you purchase your first home.

1) What Can You Afford

Determining what you can afford in the housing market is one of the most important steps as it helps define your search for a home loan and lets you find a comfortable mortgage amount that will allow you to find the home of your dreams without any undue burden. Some of the considerations to take into account include your household monthly income, your current level of debt (monthly bills, car payments, credit cards, etc.), your credit score, and the amount you will put down initially. Once you have a basic understanding of what the household earns minus what the household spends, it is much easier to determine a comfortable monthly mortgage amount. Take these numbers to your mortgage broker or lender and they can then go over what this will allow you to buy given certain loan scenarios (including the tax deductions available for the interest portion of your home loan).

2) Get Pre-qualified for a Home Loan

If you are really serious about buying a home, it is very important to at least be pre-qualified for a loan. Getting pre-qualified means a cursory examination from a mortgage broker or financial institution who can verify your level of income, credit score and current debt and can quickly tell you much you can afford to borrow.

Many realtors or home owners will not accept an initial offer on their home without a pre-qualification letter. Once you do have your pre-qualifying letter, you can begin to search for a house, confident that if you do find one, that you can make an initial offer on it. As well, the pre-qualification process will give you a much better idea of the loan amount that you qualify for.

3) Do One Better: Get Pre-approved

Getting pre-approved for a home loan tells the home seller and your realtor that you are ready to make the commitment. The pre-approval process is a bit more intensive than getting pre-qualified but pays off in the end. In order to become preapproved, you will give your lender your W-2 or 1099 Forms, Paycheck Stubs, as well as savings or checking acccount statements. In addition, it is necessary to run your credit, unless you have a recent credit report copy handy. The real advantage of pre-approval is it drastically cuts down on any problems that may be lurking in your credit or financials that might block you from obtaining the home you want.

4) The Fun Part: Searching for your new home

With the advent of the internet, there are loads of ways for you to search for your new home. One of the easiest is to find a realtor website that allows you to search the mls listings. You can enter your minimum amount and maximum amount and the areas you would like to search and, viola, you will be given a list of homes for sale that meet your requirements. Of course, if you are using a realtor they should have access to a more comprehensive mls listing service and should be able to screen your search for you. The Sunday classified ads always list the home sales in your area and often include the "For Sale By Owner" listings that are typically not included in the mls listings. One final place to look is at www.craigslist.org or your local reader in the classifieds section.

5) Check it out and make an offer

Driving by homes and walking through Open Houses is certainly exciting -- it gives you an opportunity to imagine yourself living in the various spaces. There are lots of items that you should be checking for, however, this subject is beyond the scope of this article. In the event that you like the home, you or your realtor can make the seller or the seller's agent an offer on the home. In a hot market where homes are being bought up quickly, it is a good idea to make an offer that is close, if not slightly over, the seller's price. In a slow market where homes are sitting for months at a time, you can offer an initial price that may challenge the seller's desire to sell at a lower cost. Your offer should include the following:

Seller concessions (if applicable) Financing contingencies (if applicable) Home inspection contingencies (if applicable) A specific outline of what is to be included in the sale of the Home The "earnest money" deposit amount to be tendered with the offer

Once your offer has been made, the seller will then decide to accept it, reject it or counter offer. Once you and the seller agree on a home price, both parties will sign a home purchase agreement that will include the agreed upon terms, escrow period, etc. If you are working with a realtor, they will handle all of these steps for you (hopefully in a timely and efficient manner).

6) Lock up that interest rate and find the right loan

Your mortgage broker or lender can lock in an interest rate for 30 days or 60 days until your home closes and you move in, insuring that you know exactly how much your mortgage will set be once you move in. This protects you if the interest rates rise during your escrow period. If rates go down during this time, you can usually renegotiate and get this lower rate. Locking in an interest rate is a win win situation for the borrower.

There are two main types of home loans -- fixed rate and adjustable. Fixed-rate loans divide the amount to be repaid over a set number of years. "Fixed rate" means that no matter how the interest rate fluctuates over the years, the amount of payment will remain the same. If the interest rate dips, your mortgage consultant will help you refinance to take advantage of the lower rate.

Adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are dependent on the fluctuation of the interest rate over time. A five year ARM is a fixed rate for five years but once this period ends your loan rate will fluctuate based on the market rate. When the rate is low, payments are low, but when interest rates are high, the payment increases also. ARMs are slightly easier to qualify for than fixed-rate loans, but they also carry more risks.

7) Closing and moving in

You or your realtor should have a checklist of items that have to be accomplished during the 30, 60 or 90 day escrow period. Home inspection, termite inspection, title on the property, your final approval from the lending institution, etc.

If all of this goes smoothly, you will own your home and can now look forward to the fun task of moving all of your worldly possessions into your new home! Do your homework, take it one step at a time and enjoy the process!

Corey Senn is a Senior Partner with A Bad Credit Lender, a California based hard money loan and subprime loan lender in La Jolla, Ca.

Happiness is what they're selling. Relief from the crushing weight of that gigantic rock we're all forced to carry called 'financial burden.' It's heavy and cumbersome, and the very thought of unloading it for a short time is so tempting, that some of us find it easy to throw caution to the wind and apply for the quick cash loans these small payday advance lenders offer.

Why not? The cops towed your car off, and you need eighty bucks to pay off the ticket. You can't work without your car. You don't have the money to get your car. You don't get paid until next week. A cash advance seems like the logical solution. They don't even look at your credit history. They just want to see a paycheck stub and a bank account. How easy is that? Then there's that thing you've been wanting to buy...it's only a few bucks more, so you may as well make it a hundred instead of eighty dollars. Oh, and your kid has been begging for that game. Another twenty won't make a difference.

The excuses for more will keep adding up, and here's this company ready and waiting to hand you a wad of cash. Cold hard cash. The kind that's easy to spend, because it's in your pocket (burning a hole) instead of in the bank (waiting for bills).

Why not? Because if you don't have the money you need saved in the bank, it shows you have a hard time controlling your spending habits, and you're probably going to have a hard time paying off cash loans. This means a new set of weekly fees that you hadn't planned. Before you're through, you'll end up spending much more than you borrowed just in interest and late fees. Stop the mad cycle of easy cash loans and payday advances. You might have no choice but to borrow, but following a few simple steps can help eliminate the painful after-math of a cash advance.

Only borrow as much cash as you need

This might be one of the hardest parts. When you're applying for a cash loan, and you know you'll be out of diapers before your paycheck comes, it's so tempting to add a few bucks of spending cash to the credit line.

Stop yourself right there. Ask yourself a few questions.

• Do I need this money right now?
• Will I spend the money immediately on something that is necessary?
• Can I do without the money by conserving my resources?
• Will I actually use the money on this excuse, or will I end up blowing it on something frivolous?

Can you wait for the extra money? You probably can. It's nice to have everything you want without waiting for it, but it will save you a lot of money if you just hold off until payday.

Will you spend this money immediately? If you want to advance an extra thirty bucks so you'll have enough to for gas on Friday, you should reconsider. If you know for certain that you'll need it, fill your tank on the way home. Don't carry the extra cash in your pocket, because you're likely to spend it on something else.

Can you find another way to get by? Most of us are surprised by what we can accomplish when we're strapped for cash. Use only half the soap for laundry loads. Buy the cheap hotdogs for supper tomorrow, and reheat last night's meal for tonight. But don't use credit.

Are you really going to spend the money on what you think you're borrowing it for? Cash is hard to hold on to. You know your habits. If you've blown the grocery money at a restaurant before, then don't borrow it.

Don't let the late penalties kill you

You've followed good sense and only borrowed what you needed. You skimped by on as little as possible, and now your pantry and gas tank are empty. You want to stop at the bank, cash your check, and buy a few things before going to the loan company to take care of your advance.

Here's where you'll make your biggest mistake. When you have your paycheck, go straight out and pay off that loan...all of it. The groceries can wait. The movie rentals can wait. Your only concern should be to get out of debt. Most loan companies can cash your check for you. This will make it easier to do all at once. Don't spend a single penny until your debts are satisfied. If you delay your payment, or only pay it partially, you'll start that ugly cycle again, and who knows when it will end, or how much extra you'll spend. Sell all your toys and eat macaroni and cheese for the next two weeks, but settle that loan.

Now it's time for discipline

You borrowed only what you needed. You paid all your cash loans in full the very day your paycheck came. Now you're debt free and living easy on payday. You even have a few extra bucks in your pocket. Maybe you can afford to buy the gourmet coffee. Just one cup to celebrate. Oh, and a doughnut to go with it. Wrong.

Now comes the real work. Now it's time to roll up your sleeves and keep this from ever happening again. You need to restructure your spending habits. You need to stop thinking of those extra dollars as spending cash, and start thinking of them as your safety net. Put the money away. Put it in a different account. Not a checking account, but a savings account. One that you need to actually go to the bank in order to withdraw, because the situation will rise again. You'll have another emergency, and you'll need cash. Your car will get towed again, your water heater will stop working, or you'll get a tooth ache and have to go to the dentist who only accepts payment at the time of service.

Here are a few tips to avoid frivolous spending.

1. Don't carry cash. As mentioned before, cash burns a hole in your pocket, so don't keep it with you. If you feel it's necessary to have a stash, keep it at home.
2. If you're spending more than fifty dollars, sleep on it. We've all bought things on the spur of the moment and regretted it later. If you make a strict rule and hold yourself to it, you'll cut down on most of these regrets.
3. No credit means good credit. Cancel your credit cards. All of them. If you can't do it, then take your one credit card, put it in a Tupperware bowl filled with water, and put the bowl in the freezer. Eliminate any records you have of your credit card numbers.
4. Go through your monthly bills and decide which ones to eliminate. Don't 'decide if you can eliminate any.' Decide that you're going to get rid of at least one and figure out which one it is. We all have unnecessary monthly bills. Be honest. Do you really need two cell phones? Do you even need one? If you can eliminate one of them, and put exactly that amount away every month, you'll be surprised at how fast your safety net grows.
5. As you put away your groceries, look for items you can do without the next trip. Most people could cut down their grocery bills by over 25% just by not buying what will go to waste anyway. Look at everything you throw away, and ask yourself why you bought it to begin with.

Cash loans are convenient, and sometimes necessary, but they are not ideal. They are for emergencies, but with some careful planning and healthy spending habits, you can avoid the need for them altogether.

Virginia Douglas is a freelance writer for http://www.faxless-payday-loans.net an online website that offers information about fast cash loans and payday advances.