Getting our first home loan was a bitter sweet experience. On the one hand, my wife and I were getting our first home, on the other hand we were committing to paying back a loan of over $100,000 for the next 30 years.  Looking back, of course, the experience was not that bad and is one that millions of homeowners have over the years. That being said, we still had to do a lot of preparation in order to get our first home loan.

Some of the most important aspects of getting our first home loan had nothing to do with shopping around for the best rate or looking for the best mortgage company. Rather, what mattered more were the habits and discipline that my wife and I had developed in the years leading up to applying for a loan.  What this means is that we put in our best efforts to establish good credit and have ample savings for a sizable down payment on our loan. We also made sure that we stuck to a budget so that we always had a good idea of the money that was coming in and of the money that was going out every month.  These steps helped to make the actual legwork of getting a loan that much easier. Unfortunately, these steps are also intangible and cannot be taught in a weeklong seminar or be found in a home buying text at your local bookstore.

Of course, we had to do lots and lots of research in order to find the best match for our first home loan. This required making plenty of phone calls to interview prospective lenders as well as doing research on getting a home loan.  We also needed plenty of reassurance from friends and family who already had home loans. They told us that we have nothing to worry about and we should focus on living in our first home and not paying for our first home loan.

This advice worked great until it was time to actually close on the loan. Turns out we had decided to get our first home loan from the builder of our home. When we got to the closing we were greeted by each party's representative, including the loan officer. He pulled out a stack of papers that seemed like a mile high. We must have signed papers nonstop for what seemed like an hour.  This does not even include all of the papers that we had to sign for the loan application prior to closing. All the while during the signing at the closing ours minds were torn between living in our first home and wondering what we were getting ourselves into.

Rest assured that when we were done, we knew that we had made the right choice. Our decision was confirmed when we moved into our home. Even making that first payment on our first home loan did not seem so bad.