4. Use a smaller mortgage company that can offer personal service. People tend to go with large, well-known mortgage companies, since that's all they know. But smaller, regional companies provide excellent customer service, and can often give you better rates than big companies. Since they don't advertise and instead rely on word-of-mouth, they have to be good in order to get your service. We started off with a big-name company, but in end, we went with a regional company because they had better rates and better customer service.

5. Always have a home inspection. I think most people know this fact already, but it is really important in areas with a hot real estate market. It can be easy to get caught up in bidding wars, and to want to get a house at all costs. Some friends of ours wanted a house so badly that not only did they overbid, but they also waived home inspection. They got house - and right along with it they got several thousand dollars worth of damage that would have been found in an inspection. As a final note, try to remember that buying a home doesn't have to be scary. It's very exciting to own your own home, so think of all good things that will come once you have made it through home-buying process. If you follow advice above, then you should be well-equipped to make it through unscathed.

6. Save money and shop for your home insurance easy way! Yeah, I know this is a shameless plug for our web site, but seriously, whatever web site you do use, get online and shop around for your home insurance. You can get multiple home insurance quotes from HometownQuotes.Com or any of a dozen or so reputable companies online. Go to a search engine, like Yahoo! and type in 'home insurance quotes.' This is best way because if you get 5-10 good quotes you can decide for yourself who is best.