Are you considering buying your first home? Or perhaps you’ve owned a home before, but it’s been more than 3 years. If this is you, you may very well qualify for $8,000 of free money.

What??? That sounds way too good to be true.

Well, it’s part of the government’s new stimulus package to boost the economy by encouraging people to buy a home. This will also have the effect of reducing the number of foreclosed homes sitting out there on the market.

How does it work? Well, besides being a 1st Time Homebuyer (or meet the 3 year limit), you must also close on your new  home by November 30, 2009. It can be any type of loan and any type of home. If you prefer a condo or townhome instead of a house – no problem. The $8,000 still applies.

How do I collect the money? It’s managed through your taxes. Next year (2010), when you get your tax return the $8,000 tax credit will be included. Let’s say for example you OWE $5,000 for taxes. You have your $8,000 credit coming your way. Now you will receive a check for the difference, $3,000. If you owe nothing, you’ll simply get your $8,000 check in the mail.

Still sound too good to be true? Well, it is! If you don’t believe me, turn on the Oprah Show where Susie Orman shared about this very same thing. It is a nice (and rare!) bonus to buyers. Remember, it expires at the end of November, so you only have a limited time to buy. And I recommend trying to close sooner than later. With everyone buying before the deadline, closers and title companies will be swamped towards the end, and a December 4 closing date will not qualify!

One of the first things a mortgage professional will calculate for you is your debt to income ratio or DTI. This will help reveal how much money (if any) the bank will be willing to lend you. This ratio, along with other factors, convey how HIGH or LOW of a risk you will be to lend money to. The DTI is figured with a couple different numbers usually known as the “front” and “back” ratio, usually notated in the following format: F/B.

The front ratio (F) represents the percent of income that goes toward basic housing costs. For someone who rents, that is your rent and insurance if applicable. For homeowners that number stands for your mortgage (principle, interest, taxes and insurance), hazard insurance and homeowners’ association dues, if applicable.

The back ratio (B) notates the percentage of income designated towards all recurring payments (including housing expenses). This number will contain such things as car loans, student loans, credit cards, and legal judgments such as child support or alimony.

For a standard conventional loan, those numeric limitations are always 28/36. Meaning if you are calculating the front ratio (F), your income vs. housing expenses must not be more than 28%. Similarly, if you are calculating your back ratio (B), all your recurring expenses must make up 36% or less of your income.

FHA and VA loans have their own set of rules that differ from conventional loans, however. FHA DTI limits are 31/43 and VA is (essentially) 41/41, although they do not use this particular notation. For help calculating yours, see your favorite lender, bank or credit union.

Town homes and other co-ops are a hybrid somewhere in between a condominium and a single family home. Usually a town home is attached to one or more other town homes, but has a little bit of outside space that is your own to take care of as you please. There are however also detached townhomes inside of the community of town homes, which act like a single family home except that lawn and snow, trash and recycling are usually taken care of via an Association fee.

There are typically no age restrictions, and fewer restrictions on pets and a condominium. And the association fee is often less monthly than a condo, but has less facilities available. In a town home, often the Association fee will also cover general exterior maintenance, such as exciting and roofing.

That being said, there are different types of town homes. Row homes, for example, are attached side by side to other MN town homes. Unless you are in one of the end units, you have a neighbor attached to each of your sidewalls. If these Row homes are also built back to back, all residents except for the end units will have neighbors on three sides.

In contrast, there are also townhomes built one on top of each other with single level living designed for the handicapped or elderly. But these are typically lowrise buildings (three stories or less) because each town home will have its own individual entrance. You can also find Minneapolis townhomes that are three or more stories tall. This design, often with a garage or carport on the main level, allows the maximum amount of square footage with the minimum amount of acreage used.

Styles to vary significantly, so whatever your lifestyle preferences dictate like your realtor know so that he or she may find the appropriate town home for you. Don't be afraid to say what you like and what you don't like. This will only help your agent to pick out units that you would like.

A MN condominium (aka a Minnesota condos) are the most basic sense is a building containing many individual residences inside. In this building residences are usually stacked on top of each other and side-by-side, so unless you are on the top of or bottom floor, you'll have neighbors living above and below you. And unless your condo is at the end of the building, you'll also have neighbors on either side. Usually, then, each individual owns their own unit, but has a shared ownership in the common grounds.

Condominium style living has existed for thousands of years in any place where the population is dense. It is an efficient way for communities of people to live together in a small area and maintain their privacy, while sharing the neighborhood.

A Minneapolis condominium also has the least amount of responsibility in care of all the types of living circumstances. You must obviously take care of the interior of your unit, but not typically anything outside of it. Hallways, parking lots, and shared facilities, like exercise rooms and swimming pools will all be taken care of by an Association. This association charges you a monthly fee and manages the maintenance of any shared facilities. The more facilities, the larger your monthly fee to take care of it all. But also, because you're sharing the community, the Association will have general rules that everyone must follow. For example, the most common is the limitation in number of pets and size they may be. Often a building will have age restrictions, for example 55 +, or even buildings that don't allow children.

If you are concerned that the bylaws of the community may be too strict for you, make sure to review the condo docs before you close on your purchase of a condominium. In most states, you will have a 10 to 15 day time window in which to review the documents. If you find anything that does not work for you, you cancel your offer on the condo. If, however, you decide that this is the community for you, when your 10 to 15 day window ends, you will continue as normal, to close on your new purchase.

The term "upside down" refers to a scenario where the owner of a home actually owes more on that home in the house would be worth if it were sold. It's not quite that simple because you have to also figure not only paying off the mortgage, but closing costs and MN real estate commissions as well.

People do not get "upside down" on purpose, however. It's usually a matter of having purchased their Minnesota home during a time when real estate was booming and now they happen to be in a time when it's declining. This cycle happens frequently and is nothing to be afraid of. It just means that at that time of decline is not an ideal time to sell your home if you can help it…

Obviously, the best time to sell your home is during the boom-time. This cycle has gone back and forth since the beginning of property ownership, and if you don't want to lose money, do your best not to make a purchase when Minnesota real estate boom is at its peak, and not to be forced to sell when real estate is declining.

The unfortunate part is no one can see when a "boom" is at its peak or a decline is at its bottom. Although news and other media love to be "Doom Sayers" about it all, your best bet is to speak with an experienced

Minnesota Realtor about the local cycles and their average length of time.

More Money for Minnesota first time home buyers!The government is offering this $7,500 to any first time home buyer buying their new place between April 9, 2008 and July 1, 2009.

To qualify you must be a US citizen (or qualified "nonresident alien") and make less than $75,000 a year. ($150,000 for married couples filing jointly). You also have to be a legitimate 1st time home buyer OR you can't have owned a home in the last 3 years… That's it! (well, and you have to be someone who files your taxes in order to receive the tax benefit!) How does it work then, you may be asking yourself? EASY! If you owe less than the $7,500 for taxes, the IRS cuts you a check for the difference.

If you were owed a refund, add the $7,500 to your refund amount and that's what you'll receive.

So, for example, let's say you owe $1,500 at tax time and your 1st time home buyer credit is $7,500. (7500-1500=6000) You will get a refund check in the amount of $6000. If, for another example, you are owed a refund of $1,500 and your 1st time home buyer credit is $7,500 (7500+1500=9000), you will get a check in the mail for $9000. How cool is that?

There are no restrictions on the type of home: single family home, townhome, condo, new construction, or resale AND if you are a married couple filing separately, your credit will be split – $3,750 to each spouse. Almost sounds too good to be true!

When you are buying your home and you sit down with the lender you will realize there are lots of choices to make then you may not have expected. Typically a lender will ask you for your social security number and a bunch of financial questions. After this information is gathered, that lender can assess what types of loans you can qualify for…

Once he or she knows what loans you qualify for, the choice is now up to you. Different loans have different interest rates and different terms for example, the more money you put down, the better your interest rate typically. Also, if you are putting less than 20% down, the less you put down the more PMI (private mortgage insurance) you pay.

Your lender can show you side by side how each loan will perform over time. Based on that you can discuss what works for your budget. Also discuss with your lender such creative solutions is having the seller pay for some of the closing costs. That, of course affects the purchase price, but can be a great solution if you don't have a lot of money out of your own pocket to pay for those closing costs.

For recommendations of good Minnesota mortgage lenders that will take care of you well, and manage all the details necessary for you to close on the purchase of your new home quickly and efficiently, ask your Realtor or friends and family for some recommendations.

Very simply put, a buyers market is a Minnesota real estate market in which the buyer has the best possible advantage. The conditions that create this market usually involve circumstances that generate more homes on the market than there are buyers that can buy them up.

What happens when this occurs is anyone who must sell their home is put in a tight spot. If, for example, someone had a death in the family, a health issue that must be dealt with, or their job was relocated and they were forced to leave and sell their home, they will have to sell it for the best price possible compared to all the other homes on the market. And, since there are so many competing homes, if they want to sell quickly, they must slash the price or risk having the house much longer than their finances would allow.

This is unfortunate for the sellers, but advantageous for buyers as they want to find the best deal possible in their new purchase. And it's times like these, when it's a "Buyers Market", that investors and homebuyers alike have Hey-Day! It's like a giant clearance sale!

If you think of real estate like you think of stocks and bonds, ideally you would like to buy low and sell high. And, what a buyers market is in essence, are the stocks at their lowest possible price. It is unfortunate that these are the times that the news channels will tell you how bad real estate is, when in fact it's only bad if you're forced to sell something.

A single family home, often referred to as a detached home, is basically a freestanding residence for one family. It is not subdivided in any way, it is just one unit. Owning this type of structure usually means you also own some of the land surrounding it and are responsible for 100% of its care. However, as with any rule, there are exceptions.

When you purchase a single family home in Minnesota you are typically responsible for everything, whether you do it yourself or hire someone else. If there is a lawn, you must mow it; if the roof needs repair, you must manage that as well? you get the idea. But here, you also get to make your own rules, inside the letter of the local law.

Usually, in a modern Western single family home you will find a living room, dining room, kitchen, at least one bedroom, and at least one bathroom. You may also find such additional spaces as a den or office, storage room, family room, garage or carport, laundry room, study, game room, media room, bonus from or even the more exotic studio, wine cellar or library.

Of all the types of residential real estate, it is the MN single family home that has the most potential for the greatest amount of square footage and specific amenities. Because an owner owns the entire structure and the land on which it's built, he or she may customize it to their hearts content within the confines of the local law.

A new page has just been created for Edina realty where you can search the Edina real estate listings for Edina homes for sale.

Use this free online tool to locate properties in your price range, then save your searches. You can even have new listings (that match your criteria) emailed to you as they come on the market.