How much money will I need? What will my closing costs be? What are closing or acquisition costs? Can I get insurance? What is title insurance? Will I have to pay my real estate agent? If the seller is paying my agent, who does she really represent? How do I find a good lender? What should I look for when I'm talking to a lender? What inspections should I get? What is a video plumbing inspection? How much will I have to pay per month? What is mortgage insurance?

At the Act of Sale you will need to bring certified funds for your down payment as well as for your acquisition or closing costs.

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Closing or acquisition costs vary depending on the price and terms of your individual transaction. Depending on the size of your loan, the amount of the previous owner's taxes and the amount of your insurance, you may need to budget from 3-8 percent of the sales price to cover all your closing costs and pre-paids, plus you'll need whatever percentage you are putting down. Click here to see an example of closing costs.

For example, if you were getting a $200,000 home and your loan required 3 percent down, you would probably need to budget anywhere from $9,000 to $16,000 for your acquisition costs and an additional $6,000 to put down on the home. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, one of the big unknowns is insurance. Depending on what kind of a quote you can get, you can greatly increase or decrease your acquisition costs. Click here to read more about insurance.

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Typically acquisition costs (also called closing costs) for a buyer include your closing fees and title insurance, your bank's fees, your pre-paid insurance premiums, pre-paid interest, your pro-rated taxes for the year and possibly for the coming year depending on what parish you buy in, and any other fees or payments that you must satisfy before taking title to the property.

Before you go to an act of sale, you're title company will give you a form called a HUD-1 that will itemize all your closing expenses. At the bottom of the HUD-1 will be the amount you need to bring to the sale in certified funds.

Click here to see an example of an actual HUD-1 form.
Click here to see an example of a blank HUD-1 form.

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Even though it's expensive, there is still homeowners insurance available, and flood insurance is a federal program, so those rates haven't gone up. Click here to see my blog explaining insurance in post Katrina New Orleans.

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Title insurance is a one-time expense at closing to cover you in case a cloud or question arises as to the title of your home. For example, if ten years ago your home was sold without the consent of all the owners, title insurance can protect your investment if one of the owners comes back to make a claim on your property.

You should always consult your title company to get more information on the type of coverage you're buying, but in general most title insurance policies include coverage to protect both the lender and the buyer, and whenever Iwe do a closing for our clients, we make sure this is the case.

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In the majority of cases, the buyer does not pay the agent. Usually both the buyer's agent and the sellers agent receive their payment from a commission the seller has agreed upon before he listed the house. In some circumstances or markets a buyer may have to pay a commission, but your agent would discuss that with you ahead of time, and you would have to agree to it. In some cases a retainer fee can be charged while a buyer is looking for a home, but that fee would be paid up front and usually refunded from the commission when the buyer goes to a closing.

Even in the case of a for sale by owner, we can usually negotiate a commission from the seller.

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We always represent you and must act with your best interests in mind regardless of who is paying us . In some cases, we may represent both the buyer and the seller. This is called dual agency and we need your written consent to do this. If an agent is a dual agent, she cannot disclose any confidential information to either party. If you are not comfortable with this, you can request a different, designated agent to serve you alone. Ideally this should be done at the beginning of a transaction.

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When buying a new home, you'll be depending on your lender to accurately pre-qualify you, to explain the ins and outs of your loan options to you, and to see your deal through from offer to close. So it makes sense that you want to find a professional, experienced loan agent to help you.

The best way to find a good lender is to ask us. We work hard to keep a roster of proactive, hard-working lenders on call. We do not get any kind of commission or kickback for referring a loan officer. Our reward is a quick and hassle free sale with a lender who is professional and prompt!

Also, it's a good idea to ask friends or co-workers who they use. But no matter how glowing the recommendation, talk with the lender about your financial goals over the phone and in person to see if they seem right for you before you let them take an application and run your credit.

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Ask who they've served before, and if you can call any of their past clients. Ask them how they work and what kind of loans they can approve you for (Conforming, construction, investment, FHA, etc. . . depending on your situation they will suggest certain things.). Also, find out as soon as possible if they charge an application fee or a fee to run your credit. Then ask them to itemize in writing what fees they will charge to do the loan, fees such as origination fees and so called "junk fees".

Compare the fees different lenders charge, and if you really get along with a loan originator who has a higher application fee than another lender, see if you can talk them down. Many lenders will even pay the credit check fee themselves if it means getting your business. Also, be aware of out of state and internet lenders that promise low interest rates with low fees. Often these lenders aren't experienced doing business in post-Katrina New Orleans and may not be able to get you what they promised. The problem is, by the time you find out, it could be two weeks until your closing and the seller may not want to give you an extension. If no one can vouch for the person and it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Also, when you're meeting or talking with a potential loan originator, watch his or her attention to detail. They're going to be handling the hundreds of details that will make or break your purchase, so make sure you're comfortable with how they work.

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Typically you should always get a general home inspection and a termite inspection. A home inspection by a licensed inspector usually starts at around $300 and goes up depending on the size of your home. Termite inspections also vary depending on the size of your home, but typically start at around $75.

Based on what he sees in your home, your inspector might recommend you hire a specialist to examine a particular aspect of the home in more depth. For example he may recommend additional inspections like an electric inspection, mold inspection or video plumbing inspection. Inspections are typically the buyer's responsibility to pay, and they are a non-refundable cost.

As with other professionals, we can recommend a good inspection company, and we can help you analyze your inspection report and decide what to do next.

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Your general inspector will inspect all the plumbing he can see as well as testing all the fixtures. The one thing he can't see, even in raised homes, is the portion of the main sewer line, or drain line, that goes from the house under the ground and to the city's main connection at the street. That is the portion of the plumbing a video plumbing inspection will check.

By placing a small camera through that line, your inspector will be able to see if there are any obstructions, cracks or breaks in the main drain line. The test runs about $200 and this is in addition to any other inspection you may get like your general home inspection. Note that this test does not test every plumbing line in the house, just the underground main drain line.

We think slab homes should always have a video plumbing inspection done because to replace this line on a slab home can be very expensive, $20,000 and up, because they have to go through the slab. Also, if you have a home in an area that received a lot of water, We would highly recommend this test, even if the home has been renovated, because the flood water was very heavy and so placed a lot of pressure on these lines. We had a seller who renovated his home after the storm. He didn't contact us during the renovations, so we couldn't tell him to check the pipes before rebuilding. He had the place looking great, and we found him a great buyer quickly. The only problem was that when we did inspections, the buyer had a video pipe inspection and found damage to the main drain line. We got through it, but we're sure our seller would have liked to have known that information before doing his renovations.

In a raised home, the cost to completely redo this line is less because you're just digging it up from dirt. Depending on the home and the plumber it could be $5,000. For that reason, We think it's a personal choice whether you want to do a video plumbing inspection in a raised home.

One advantage of these inspections is it could help you with your insurance down the line. If you ever have a break in this line, often insurance companies will look at how old the house is, and the line (usually built out of terra cotta decades ago), and they will say the damage is a pre-existing condition, and therefore not eligible for coverage. If, on the other hand, you've got a video from your inspector showing that when you bought the house and got insurance coverage the line was fine, then it's pretty hard for your insurance to fight it.

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You will need to talk to your lender to determine what your monthly costs will be, but typically the monthly costs for a loan include the principle and interest payment on the loan as well as payment for a portion of your taxes and insurance.

Your monthly note will depend on your interest rate, your loan amount, taxes, insurance, and any mortgage insurance you may have. You can play with some different monthly notes here at our Mortgage Calculator.

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Your Mortgage Insurance Premium, often referred to as PMI, is an amount you must pay every month to insure your mortgage. This is not always required, but usually lenders ask for it if a buyer is putting less than 20 percent down on the property.

Once you have paid off 20 percent of your loan, or if your equity climbs to 20 percent of your loan, you become eligible to have the PMI taken off your payments. Ask your loan officer for more details.

Also, remember that for anyone buying after 2007, a new law makes your mortgage insurance tax deductible. Ask your accountant for details, but make sure to take the deduction!