Buying a home, how to do it.?

ok so me and my wife were thinking about renting a home. we have 2 children and need a little more space than an apartment or duplex. but i was thinking with the housing market so low, we probably could buy a home....maybe. I live in Sacramento, CA. and we make a decent amount of money combined around 50,000 and our credit is relatively young and in the mid 600's. Do we qualify to buy a home? whats the best place to start? we are both new to this and have no idea how to go about it and if we would even qualify. any help is greatly appreciated.Buying a home, how to do it.?
I lived in Sac for 5 years, and the housing marked is super good overthere. You can start by going on www.craigslist.org and looking for the already established neighborhoods. You do qualify for a house, you should go online and find a mortgage calculator and enter the data to have an idea of what homes to look for.



A piece of advice before you call a real estate agent make sure to have been prequalifed for a home. Also, you do not have to pay a real estate agent for them to show homes. Look also in www.realtor.com.



Stay away from interest only loans, you want a conventional loan, or FHA so be prepared to have at least $5k for downpayment and $3-5K for closing costs, for FHA loan, for conventional you will need 20% downpayment.



Good LuckBuying a home, how to do it.?
Using one of the online mortgage calculator figure out how much mortgage you qualify for. Then make sure your credit report is clean.

Start checking listings in the area you like and see what houses cost.

Then get yourself preapproved for a mortgage. Then contact a realtor
1 contact a lender and get pre-approved, so you know what you can afford and what your payments will be.



2 contact a realtor, they can give you access through their website to the MLS. You can start getting an idea of neighborhoods pricing etc.
talk to your bank, ask about FHA loans, guidelines:low credit score 3% down..Great program
Go find a loan agent or bank to get a quote on interest rate and possibly they can pre-approve your loan application. Then you can get a Realtor and start house hunting in your area. Try those foreclosed houses cos' they're way below the market price but might need some fixing.