Buying a home in Michigan?

My husband and I are 1st time home buyers and are looking in the suburbs of Northern Detroit (Rochester Hills, Shelby Twp & Troy for those familiar with the area) We are looking for a home under 150k and I'm wondering if we should hold off for a little while longer. Our apartment lease is up in 6 months, but is easily breakable. Everyone says the real estate market will bottom out towards the end of 2008, but we've found a few homes we like now (like..not love) I don't want to miss an opportunity, but would love to get an even better deal.
What are our options as first time home buyers? Better intrest rates?
Should we go with a bank or mortgage company?

Your first step should be to go through the qualification process and get the full approval. Then you can start shopping for homes.

While Michigan does have a pretty volatile real estate market right now, it is a great time to buy - so many good deals! Just be sure you have an appraisal done and don't overpay. Work with a Realtor and lender who will have your back and have some experience in markets like this.

use a bank
best time will be summer of 2008

Everyone is wrong, homes are not going to bottom out for a long time.

Michigan's economy is not getting any better. If anything it is getting worse and worse.

I would hold off until you find the following:

a house you love
a great deal
with a house payment you can afford even if one or both of you lose your jobs or have to take jobs at lower pay levels.

Our one state recession has moved across the country and if Michigan hasn't been able to fix it in 7 years, I have no doubts the country is in for a long and bumpy ride.

As you have to live somewhere, and if you are planning to remain in the home for a long time, ownership is better than just paying the equity for your landlord. At least over time you should end up ahead of the game.

But if you think you will be moving within 3 years or so, don't buy, not worth the risk.

-I live in the Western Suburbs and own a Michigan business

It is a shame these people are clueless. lets clarify several things first! dont get caught up in media hype and catch phrases! we are in an adjustment period now the markets that where climbing at insane rates like where i am from in florida some years gaining up to 20% have taken the bigest hit. these areas developers seeing big gains built huge projects and have alot of inventory sitting now. this deos not mean the entire country is in some slump. florida and about 4 other states have been affected the worst in the last 18 months but the up side Its a buyers market now and home selling prices are at record lows (this is a good thing for borrowers)

as far as what everyone calling the housing slump this adjustmet and the huge amount of foreclosures has scared off alot of investors so the money banks relyed on has gone away! some not all! they're reaction to this is to tighten guidelines making it harder for borrowers to get financing ( this is making it harder for the developers etc.

the up side watch the news and see how many large offshore companies are giving billions sometimes 100s of billion's of dollars to banks here in the US. the fact is the market has slowed and adjusted is a good thing for borrowers. and as far as the market bottoming out as far as housing prices there may be slight adjustment down over the next 6 months they will be minimal! the biggest adjustment has already happened! some prices in florida are down 30-40% from 2 years ago. this is a 30 yr investment and the few dollars you may save wont make abit if differance once the ((recovery takes place and the interest rates are raised!))

dont chase price! thats what will happen if you wait till you hear everyone saying the upturn has happened! it will mean prices are going up!

I also live in Michigan. (Livonia) I'm also in the mortgage business. To answer your question, the best time to buy a house is when you find one that you like and can afford. Will you lose value in the home in 2008? Yes, but if you're planning this as a long term investment than it's a good time to buy. ( I bought a home last year Feb 2006) I don't care if I lose some value in the home because I'm not planning on moving anytime soon. So, if you are getting a good deal, you like the house, you can afford the house, then buy the house. As far as who to do business with? I would choose a mortgage company, they only do "one" thing. They may have programs available that banks don't. I understand that you are always looking for a better deal. There's a saying in finances...Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered. You have to weigh what you would be saving on a house by waiting a year to what you would be throwing away in rent.

So you think that you're ready to buy your own home? Hopefully you've done a little research online to make your first home buying experience a good one. First of all you should contact a mortgage broker that will preapprove you for your new mortgage. This is now more important than ever<!--It's also important that once you receive a preapproval you get busy right away looking for your new home. The reasoning for this is that with the mortgage meltdown lenders are changing their lending programs as quickly as Paris Hilton changes her boyfriends. Scary, huh?

http://mortgages-finance.awardspace.com/...

At this point you will let the mortgage broker now how much you would like to get preapproved for. The broker will then take a full mortgage-->loan application. The mortgage broker will also run your credit. With all this information in hand the mortgage broker will see if you have enough income for the price of the home that you would like to purchase.