Category: Home Buying Tips

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: "Buying & Financing Your New Home" Book Review

by Kyle BurbankJun 24, 2026

Over the past couple of years, I've written a lot about my experience as a first-time homebuyer and then a first-time homeowner. The only problem is that I can really only share my own personal experience with the processes, woes, and wins of homeownership. So, when I was able to claim a free copy of Buying & Financing Your New Home: Find the Right Home & the Best Possible Mortgage...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: It's Going to Be a Long Spring

by Kyle BurbankMar 4, 2026

I know that Spring is supposed to be an exciting and beautiful time. Yet, I find that, more and more, it's the season I dread the most. That's partially because of what the pollen and other airborne particles do to my allergies — but also because of how the Spring season affects me as a homeowner. So why am I so down on this blooming season? Here are a few key...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Preparing for a Snow Storm

by Kyle BurbankJan 21, 2026

Like much of the country, it seems that we in Springfield, Missouri are in for a winter storm this weekend (sidenote: I'm very relieved to be flying home on Thursday and not any later). With this being the third winter since we bought our house, we have some idea of how to handle snowy conditions in terms of managing our property. Yet, you never truly know what to expect —...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: A Long-Held Housing Market Problem is Clearing

by Kyle BurbankJan 7, 2026

If you've had trouble finding many homes for sale in your area of interest over the past several years, you've probably been told a theory of why that might be. The logic goes that since many homebuyers were able to obtain mortgages with interest rates of 3% or less during rough economic times, they were reluctant to sell. Potential home sellers seemed to opt for staying put rather than moving...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: The Spam and Scams Don't Stop

by Kyle BurbankDec 24, 2025

When we closed on our house, our mortgage broker and the title company warned us that we'd likely be getting a bevy of junk mail related to our new homeowner status. That's because, at least in Missouri, the transaction is public record. In turn, various companies take the opportunity to target us — and some of these operations don't appear as ethical as others. Having survived that initial influx of spam...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: The Shifting Priorities Between Home Shopping and Home Owning

by Kyle BurbankDec 10, 2025

I have a love-hate relationship with the show House Hunters. Although I do find it entertaining and have been known to consume multiple episodes in a row (including a relapse of sorts during a recent trip to Kansas City), the people on the show bug me. More specifically, the choices the participants make often leave me scratching my head. In fact, I'm often able to guess which property they've purchased...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: What I'm Most Thankful for As a Homeowner

by Kyle BurbankDec 3, 2025

Last month, in honor of Halloween, I shared some of the scariest things that have happened to us since we bought our home two years ago. Well, seeing as last week was Thanksgiving, it only seems appropriate that I look at the other side of the coin and celebrate the best parts of owning a house. So, here are a few things I'm thankful for as a (relatively) new homeowner....

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: No, You Don't Want a 50-Year Mortgage

by Kyle BurbankNov 12, 2025

If you're like me, one of the most frightening parts of buying a house is just the idea that you'll be paying it off over the course of three whole decades! Now there's talk of creating a new option that goes beyond the 30-year mortgage: a 50-year mortgage. On the surface, the upsides to such a plan are obvious — but unfortunately, so are the sizeable downsides. So, should you want...