Sure thing!
I started out by setting my budget and what I could afford. I felt my max would have been around $225-230k. I would then look for houses at a max of $10k above that in order to talk them down (it's all about getting the most for your money).
I then pre-qualed for a mortgage through my credit union (shameless plug warning) Trumark Financial Credit Union, trumark.org. I went with an 80/10/10 loan which means I put 10% of the purchase price down (along with all closing costs which was another $7k+), financed 10% of the purchase with a home equity loan and financed the remaining 80% as a mortgage. Doing this allowed me to not have to pay PMI.
I got the house for $220k and it appraised at $223k during the purchase.
The house is located in West Norriton which is actually a pretty decent township, even if I am just down the street from Norristown boro...
Taxes are $3500 a year so that adds a significant chunk of change to my total payments.
The house came with new central air, new hot water heater, new heater, new vinyl windows, newer roof (<10 years, I believe) and a one year home warranty which I think I might purchase another year for.
My total payments (read: mortgage, home equity loan and taxes) comes to just under $1500 a month. All in all, considering this is the first home I've ever owned, I think I did pretty damn good job.
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