text: what is everything i would have to do when looking for and buying a home?   hello,  congratulations on deciding on a long-term decision right at the outset of your getting together.  by deciding to buy your home, you will do the following:  1. stop paying someone else's mortgage. 2. build your own equity. 3. since both of you put together have a high income, you will book the tax benefits. 4. fix your monthly payment on living in a home for your lifetime (based on your mortgage).  the process: 1. check your credit by yourself. try to work on any cleanup that you might need to do (like some irregularities in payments or any other incorrect reporting regarding your credit history. a good mortgage agent should be a great help and be able to do everything for you. but some mortgage agents might use this for a rip-off. 2. see if you can identify your objectives, needs and wants. like, if you want to live close to downtown, a new home, a nice neighborhood, commute, lifestyle etc. 3. find a good realtor who will help you understand your objectives, needs and wants and put them in perspective so that he will help you identify the home you will want to live in. 4. a good realtor should be able to take care of the entire process. you have to zone into your dream home out of the millions of properties available out there. you will also have to identify your constraints in terms of finances, having a realtor will give you all these ideas. 5. it is very important that you pin your requirements, it will make the process of selection very easy. 6. the process itself. a. find a realtor. b. find a mortgage agent. c. find a house. d. once selected, make an offer. e. if the offer is accepted order inspections, title reports, hoa docs if it is a pud / townhome. finalize mortgage. remove contingencies based on investigations. get ready for sign-off. sign-off do a walkthrough inspection fund your mortgage get your keys  you may want to browse on the internet for some more preliminary understanding.  disclosure: i am a licensed realtor with century 21 in san jose, ca.