1. Decide how much home you can afford. Generally, you can afford a home equal in value to between 2 and 3 times your gross income. 2. Determine if you have enough downpayment to qualify for a mortgage. Ideally, you should have 20 percent of the purchase price as a downpayment 3. Consider other sources of help with a downpayment. For example, if you have an IRA account, you can use money you've saved for buying your first home without paying a penalty for early withdrawal. Also check with your state and local government on downpayment assistance programs for first-time buyers. 4. Get your credit in order. Obtain a copy of your credit report. 5. Determine how large a mortgage you can qualify for. Also explore different loans options and decide what's best for you. 6. Organize all the doc... 02/16/2007

1. Tax breaks. The U.S. Tax Code lets you deduct the interest you pay on your mortgage, property taxes you pay, as well as some of the costs involved in buying your home.2. Gains. Over last five years (1998-2002) national home prices have increased at an average of 5.4 percent annually. And while there's no guarantee of appreciation, a 2001 study by the National Association of REALTORS® found that the typical homeowner has approximately $50,000 of unrealized gain in a home. 3. Equity. Money paid for rent is money that you'll never see again, but mortgage payments let you build equity ownership interest in your home. 4. Savings. Building equity in your home is a ready-made savings plan. And when you sell, you can generally take up to $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple) as gain witho... 02/16/2007

Valparaiso, IndianaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Valparaiso (IPA: [ˌvɑl.pə.ˈɹeɪ.zoʊ]) is a city in Porter County, Indiana, USA, and is part of the Chicago Metropolitan Area. It is the county seat of Porter CountyGR6. The city's nickname is Valpo.HistoryEstablished in 1836 as the county seat of Portersville, it was renamed to Valparaiso in 1837 after Valparaíso, Chile, near which the county's namesake David Porter battled in the War of 1812.[1] Until 1991 it was the terminal of Amtrak's Calumet commuter service.GeographyIt is situated at the critical junctions of U.S. Route 30, State Road 2, and State Road 49. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 28.5 km² (11.0 mi²). 28.2 km² (10.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.73%) is wat... 01/22/2007

Why is this the only franchise I will ever review? I'm not a big fan franchises, so I try to not to eat at them.  I love the uniqueness of independent restaurants and make it a rule to not eat at a place I can find at home when I am out of town. Example - why ,when I am in downtown Chicago, would I go for pizza at Uno's when I can eat at Lou Malnatti's instead? But, I digress...Most Franchises are available everywhere and to everyone, so a review is not really necessary, but this is a brand new concept and is just starting to grow.  As a matter of fact, if you visit http://www.desertmooncafe.com/, you can see how new it is.  Valparaiso hosts the only outlet in Indiana and locations are primarily on the east cost.  California doesn't even have one!  What I love about this restaurant (bes... 01/16/2007

This is totally a post about our local area.  I'm not much of a statistician, so I'll leave the Days on Market and Number of Pends and Average Listing Price type numbers to your favorite REALTOR, and there are some great ones right here on http://www.activerain.com/ for Porter County.  I can comment though on my speciality.  New Homes.  There is a definite change in New Homes activity since the beginning of December.  We've had more traffic through our sales center since December 1st than we had all of October and November combined.  Now, the big reason for my surprise is that normally we don't see a whole lot of traffic until after the Superbowl.  So let me offer a few pointers to those of you out looking at home and new homes in the winter months:Buying a spec in January is a terrific... 01/14/2007

City of Valparaiso Website "History of the City"The State of Indiana was known as Indian territory because it was a rendezvous point for many Indian Tribes. The first pioneers ventured through this area about 1670. The first settler in the area was a French-Canadian named Joseph Bailley, who in 1822 established a thriving fur post on the shore of Lake Michigan about 12 miles north of now Valparaiso. The site of the present City of Valparaiso was included in purchase of the land from the Potawatomi Indians by the U.S. Government in October 1832. Located on a glacial moraine (now known as the Valparaiso Moraine) and the ancient Sauk Indian Trail from Rock Island (Illinois) to Detroit, the town had its first log cabin in 1834. In 1836, the state general assembly separated the county from L... 01/03/2007

The Porter County Builders Association will feature its annual Parade of Homes in June of 2007 at Aberdeen.  Aberdeen was the home of the 200 Parade of Homes, one of the most successful Parades in region history.  Last night was the first night of builder sign-ups, with only 8 sites available this year. Two builders confirmed and signed and 7 additional builders were "kicking tires" trying to figure out which lots they wanted.I'll update more later today and Monday as we fill the slots.  If you are working with a builder, don't delay get them the info by calling the Porter County Builders Association today.  http://www.pcbaonline.com/ 12/08/2006

I regularly blog on http://daltonsbriefs.blogspot.com/ on issues of international or political intrigue.  We here at Synergy Homes have had a pretty wild year .... frankly with everyone complaining about the housing market in general, we were surprised to have so much traffic and activity.   Did you know that interest rates didn't really go up this year on mortgages?  That's the truth.Go to our website at http://www.synergyhomes.com/ and find your house or your homesite.  I just read this morning that mortgage rates are at a 14 month low!  Yes, that's what I said, a low. 12/07/2006