The Latest: Jan 20, 2019

You can shop for just about anything online these days, from your groceries to shipping containers-turned-houses. So, when it comes to home buying, it only feels natural for digital natives to crack open the laptop to start shopping for a mortgage. Once you tell Google you’re in the market for a mortgage, oodles of comparison sites will pop up, eager to get to know you better with icebreakers like “what’s your credit score?”, “where are you looking to buy?

If you’re in the market for a house, first of all, congrats! Buying a home is one of the most rewarding—albeit at times exasperating—things you’ll do in your life. By the time you’re ready to buy, you likely have a sufficient grasp on the basic necessities: a solid foundation, a roof that doesn’t leak, wiring that won’t cause your new home to spontaneously combust, and so on. But what about the other stuff you should be mindful of?