Where do I find information on condos for sale?

My husband and I are still living at his parents house with our newborn and we are about ready to get out.





we have furniture, dishes, all that good stuff from our wedding however we don't know the first thing to getting a place. we dont want to rent an apartment, we just want to invest in owning.





but how?


where can i look for prices?


what is the usual steps? take a loan? save how much?





we live in Orange County, CaliforniaWhere do I find information on condos for sale?
you are in luck. first off, you should save and always save more. second, you should figure out how much home you could afford. basically, 25% of your income should go towards your house payment. so if you and your spouse make a combined $50,000, then $12,500 per year should go towards your mortgage- that's about $1000 per month. you should start using realtor.com for research and they have tools there where you could figure out a home price, a downpayment and todays interest rates and it will tell you how much your payment will be. or you can put your maximum payment in and it will tell you how much house you can afford. third, you should check the credit scores of you and your spouse. these are free once a year and you can go to a website called freecreditreport.com. if you have any incorrect stuff on there then you need to contact those creditors to have them fixed. assuming that you know your credit score, then you should be able to check with a local mortgage person to figure out if you actually qualify for a mortgage. now mortgage people are a dime a dozen so you never know what you're going to get, but if you call your local bank or a big name company, they can give you a basic overview of how it works and they might even be able to help you out with more details than what i'm giving you. if, and only if you want a referral, let me know. but once you get an idea of what you truly can afford (according to a bank), then it's your responsibility to shop around for the best rate- you might end up contacting 3 or 4 mortgage people as different ones can get you different rates.





either way, once you know that you can get a loan, then you can officially get geeked out and start looking for neighborhoods that you might like. if you start searching too soon before you even know if you can get a loan, you could end up getting really bummed out- 3 years ago, people would do the house hunting first and then magically they'd qualify for a loan- hence we have our mortgage problems now because banks were lending to anybody- not anymore. as a first time homebuyer, you might not be thinking about what you want in a home besides size, location and style, but once you buy one you will learn the negative aspects of it- which way the sun shines in the morning, traffic noise, neighbors, drafty windows, etc. you cannot get emotionally attached to a home you like- ESPECIALLY in todays market where there are so many available and the prices keep dropping. and with so many foreclosures, banks now own homes- and banks do not make money by owning homes since there is no mortgage income. so they will basically give foreclosed homes away- but you need to be patient.





did i talk your ear off? hope it helps.Where do I find information on condos for sale?
I have used this website before to search for all types of properties for free including condos. I like it because I have a user id and password and it is specific to my search criteria. I would suggest that you try it out. The site is linked to the MLS in all 50 states including California. Good luck! It gives you the price, address, pictures, directions, property taxes, and condo fees for each property. I know this site to be reliable plus it will let you look for properties without having to call a realtor to answer questions since it gives you all the information you need.





As for the loan, I would talk to a couple of mortgage lenders (I prefer working with direct lenders not brokers but work with whoever you feel comfortable with). Ask for a meeting so they can explain the entire loan process and get you approved for a maximum purchase price and loan amount.





With your approval letter and knowing what you want (from the search site), you can go start looking at homes with a realtor and possibly put a contract on your future home. Good luck!
check out this website:


http://www.realtor.com





You can search for condos in any city in the country and it gives you all the listings, many with multiple pictures.