Few dreams are as prevalent as the dream of buying a house.
The desire to stake a claim to a plot of land, no matter how small, seems embedded in the American psyche. Fortunately, that dream is doable for most people. And between 1994 and 1999, the number of U.S. homeowners surged by a record 7 million people. Still, the decision to buy a home is rarely easy. The first factor to look at is, of course, money.