Questions: 1. Perform an attribute analysis of your projected wants and needs as a homeowner. Begin by prioritizing the following personal and microeconomic factors in terms of their importance to you in deciding when to buy a home. - How large should the house be? How many bedrooms and bathrooms? - Which rooms are most important: kitchen, family room, or home office? - Do you need parking or a garage? - Do you need storage space? - Do you need disability accommodation? - Do you want outside space: a yard, patio, deck? - How important is privacy? - How important is energy efficiency or other "green" features? - How important are design features and appearance? - How important is location and environmental factors? - Proximity to work? Schools? Shopping? Family and friends? 2. Describe hypothetically your first or next home that you think you would like to own, including its location and environment. Predict how much you think it might cost to own such a home in your state. Then look through realty news and ads to find the asking prices for homes or housing units similar to the one you described. How accurate is your prediction? 3. You are considering purchasing an existing single family house for $200,000 with a 20 percent down payment and a thirty-year fixed-rate mortgage at 5.5 percent. - What would be your monthly mortgage payment? - If you decided to buy two points for a rate of 5 percent, how much would you save in monthly payments? Would it be worth it to buy the points? Why, or why not? - When should you consider an adjustable-rate mortgage