Discovering your new home is easy but paying for it is not. One of the first steps in the home-finding process is to investigate and analyze your financial situation and find out how much money you'll have available for the purchase of your new home. It's generally a smart move to make some preliminary financial arrangements before you begin visiting new home communities and before you put down a deposit for your new home. Without a budget in mind, you won't be in a good position to make those other important decisions..

Location is one of the top factors to consider before buying a home. Three questions you should ask yourself when deciding where to locate your home should include: How close are the schools? Check to see how well they're rated. Where are the nearest shopping and community centers? and the Biggie...How far will I have to commute to work? (Try a "dry run" at midweek during commuting hours.)

Embarking on a quest to find your new home means that you'll be visiting more than one community. Even if you think you're not going to buy at that community, you should visit it anyway just to see what you like.  Odessi and I traveled near and far to find the home we wanted. We were expecting to buy a much smaller home. Just something to fit our lifestyle comfortably. We don't need a mansion, but some cool and practical anemities would be nice (i.e. computer room, guest room, etc.). Aside from all the other obvious things that go along with the research we've done through other sites and magazines, the home just has to feel right. You'll know that feeling if you still continue to have the same giddiness walking into the same home model repeatedly. 

From the pictures of this model, it doesn't look that big but you know what? It's perfect.