Real estate agents are experts at helping individuals find homes that fit their interests, their budgets, and their criteria. They save you time, make your home search more exhaustive and comprehensive, and play on your team. Your agent represents you, and she earns her commission when she finds the home you want at a price you can afford. Your realtor will negotiate with the seller's broker or the seller, if the owner is selling it on her own, to get the best price possible. And the seller pays her commission!

The seller will also have an agent who represents his interests. If you are not using an agent, be wary when revealing financial information to the seller's agent. Give him enough to know that you can afford the property, but don't disclose exactly how much you are willing to pay or you will lose your ability to negotiate. Instead, offer a range that protects your ability to negotiate toward the lower end of the scale.

Meanwhile, you can use the seller's broker to show you around the home, learn about the home's history, and reveal the positive and negative aspects of the neighborhood, such as traffic and noise levels, crime rates, school quality, and whatever else you want to know. Always keep in mind that he works for the seller, not for you.

Personal recommendations are the best way to find an agent. However, if you're going to a new community, be aware that when you call or walk into a local real estate office, you will likely be assigned to the next agent on rotation — without regard to her experience, qualifications, or work ethic. You can vastly improve your odds by perusing local newspaper ads — real estate brokers reward their top performers by giving them prominent placement in their ads — and then calling someone with a lot of sales under her belt.

Another option is to buy a newly built home in a community designed and built by a professional homebuilding company. One advantage is that builders like to move the homes quickly and may offer incentives — low down payments or customized upgrades, for example — to boost sales. Newly built homes will also have lower maintenance expenses in their early years. Be sure to research the homebuilder's reputation, using the Better Business Bureau or a local chamber of commerce. If consumers have lodged a lot of complaints against a certain builder, you will know to look elsewhere.