So you’ve made a decision to buy a home.

Purchasing a home can be amazing, strange, and threatening follow—sometimes all at once. But due to few easy steps, your renovation from renter to buyer can be a smooth one.

There are three major credit agencies who keep track of your credit record—Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. Each of them have a credit rating for you on file, and when averaged out, you’ll get your credit score.

Confirm each of these resources unconnectedly—there are rather a few online resources where you can buy all three praise reports at once—and make sure to precise any inaccuracies and check for individuality theft. If there are mistakes in any of your accounts, it could take a couple of months to fix them.

If you’re a young, first-time homebuyer, chances are pretty good that that 5,000 square foot, eight bedroom villas on the river bluff are out of your range financially. What you need to know before moving on is precisely how much you can pay for a house.

Here’s the rough part: finding adequate cash for a down compensation along with costs associated with buying like loan fees, appraisal fees, inspection fees, legal fees and title search fees.

As a first time homebuyer, that’s no walk in the park, especially when most lenders ask for 20 percent down. Double ouch. There is hope, though. Several private and public agencies offer programs where you can pay as little as 3 percent down on a home.

You might have to pay a confidential mortgage insurance fee if you go this route; it can also add about half a percent of the credit to your yearly payments.

Some companies will even help their employees with a down payment or with securing a low-interest loan. If you work at one of these companies, consider yourself  blessed.