There is little doubt that a home can be much more than just a place to live. A home can also be a significant investment, and rising home prices can provide valuable equity to put the children through college, or even to finance a comfortable retirement. One thing that keeps many people renters, however, is their fear that getting that 1st mortgage will be difficult or even impossible.

Luckily, for most potential homeowners that is no longer the case. Today's more favorable first mortgage terms mean that more and more people can qualify for a mortgage loan, and that they can often borrow much more money than they would have thought possible.

One daunting part of the first mortgage process is coming up with the required down payment. Just a few years back, it was very difficult and sometimes impossible to buy a home without at least a 20% down payment. With homes today costing many hundreds of thousands of dollars, however, it is easy to see how finding the money for a down payment on a first mortgage can be difficult.

One thing many mortgage lenderhave done to make the first applicaton mortgage process a lot easier is to offer more favorable financing terms, allowing the down payment amount to be reduced significantly. Where 20% was once the gold standard, it is now possible for many borrowers to get a first mortgage with as little as 10% or even 5% down. In some cases, mortgage lenders will write a first mortgage with no down payment at all.

Of course this low down payment means larger monthly mortgage payments, so it still makes sense to put down as much as possible on a first mortgage. A down payment will provide you with an instant equity stake in the roof over your head, and it will also provide you with lower monthly payments. This is important, since lower monthly payments mean less money paid on the home in the long run. Since a first mortgage is a long term commitment, it is important to think for the long term when shopping for a home and a mortgage.

It is also important to get the advice of those who have been there when shopping for a first mortgage. Soliciting advice from family members, friends and coworkers who have gone from being renters to owning their own home can provide invaluable information not available in any guide. There is nothing like the value of first hand experience when it comes to shopping for a first mortgage.