Buying your First Home

The Grid Guide to Buying Your First Home
BY: DENISE BALKISSOON, KATIE UNDERWOOD, AND DAVID FLEMING

The second you sign the lease on a rental apartment, several people you’re related to (probably the parents; maybe a meddling aunt) will fire off this question: Why pay some other clown’s mortgage when you can have a place of your very own? When you’re 20 and swimming in student debt, it’s a question easily ignored. But then you get older, land a real job, and sock away a bit of cash, and you start thinking that your meddling aunt might be onto something. So you lose a weekend clicking through MLS listings and discover that, last month, the average detached home in the 416 went for $749,000. Scary!
Uncurl yourself from the fetal position: You can still buy a house in this town for much less than that. To get one of those homes, though, you’re going to have to look hard, move fast, and let words like “five-year fixed-interest term” fall effortlessly from your lips. We can’t exactly help you there—but we (or, more accurately, our expert panel) can help ease 10 of the most common newbie concerns.