You have taken two major steps now in the enterprise of buying a home. You are now quite clear about what you are looking for in your home and you have a clearer picture of your financial position. You know how much loan or mortgage you can raise. Now is the time for you to start hunting for a house that fits your bill.

There are many directions in which you can carry out your search. You can check on properties available online, go through the properties advertised in newspapers, can visit property agents and check what they can offer. You may find many properties advertised by small notices in shop windows in the neighborhood or ?for sale? boards put up outside houses in the neighborhood.

You are already clear about the general area in which you want to look for a house; this will help in narrowing down your search to a manageable level. Many of the online sites will have pictures, or in some cases, walk-through clips so that you can get a fairly good idea of what is available without stepping out of your place. From the information gleaned from online search as well as the offline searches, prepare a list of properties that seem to deserve personal visits. Prepare a checklist of the various features you would be looking for during your personal visits.

During your visits for viewing property, carry a notebook to take notes. Digital cameras are a great help in recording your observation which otherwise would be difficult to put down on paper; carry one with you and take pictures. When in a short span of time you are likely to be visiting many properties, it will be difficult to recollect the details of each property at a later date and you are likely to get confused ? or worse, make wrong decision. This notebook and pictures taken by you will avoid such a mistake. After every visit, put down your comments on the pictures you have taken; make it a habit of rating the property visited on a scale of 1 to 10 while the visit is still fresh in your mind. Also enter your comments about the property against the checklist of desired features that you have made.

After short listing, revisit the short listed properties if necessary. Avoid making an impulsive decision.

After these visits for viewing property and after discussions with the estate agents, you would have zeroed in on two, or may be three, properties that seem to satisfy your needs, that seem to be within your budget.

Caution! You are guided only by what you see or what has been told to you. Looks can be deceptive and an agent?s glib talk can be even worse. You ought to know the real ?health? of the house you intend to buy and so now it is time for inspections or surveys to play their part. We shall deal with them next..

S. Phadke is a retired electrical/control engineer, with over 45 years experience in senior positions in India & abroad. He has wide ranging interests. He enjoys writing and has been writing articles on Real Estate, Conveyancing, Retirement, Energy Conservation, Home Based Industries, Online Data Storage, Networking, etc. He can be contacted at snphadke@gmail.com His blog URL is http://snphadke-energyreview.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=S_Phadke
http://ezinearticles.com/?A-Structured-Approach-to-Buying-a-Home---Part-4---Viewings&id=604828