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Buying a home is an exciting prospect. But before you take that step, there are many things you need to know to make a wise choice.

Decide where you want to live. Learn about the hidden costs of buying a home and the types of mortgages available.

Before you start looking for a home, you need to figure out what you can afford. This means closely examining your finances including income, expenses, investments, savings, loans and debts.

Looking at your financial situation helps you figure out what you can afford in monthly mortgage payments and how much you can put towards saving for your down payment. While you're doing this, keep in mind any extra expenses you might incur down the road. In the short term, do you plan on: starting a family? buying a new car? taking a major vacation? getting married? All of these things cost money and will have to be factored into your expenses.

Financially, buying a home comes down to two key things: what you can pay out each month in mortgage payments and other obligations and how much you can afford as a down payment. You can use the calculators to decide.

A mortgage is nothing more than a large loan secured by real estate. If you keep this simple concept in mind, everything else will fall into place nicely.

The big unknown for most people is figuring out how much of a mortgage they "qualify" for. This is another easy concept. A good rule of thumb is that you will qualify for a mortgage of about three times your family's gross annual income, assuming you have steady employment, a good credit history and relatively little debt.