Burned by the subprime mortgage crisis, banks and lenders have made it a lot harder for home buyers to get mortgage & finance. But for the right person with a solid paper trail of financial capability, it's not so hard. As a matter of fact, banks have fully recovered from the recession, and are anxiously awaiting home buyers.

First thing to know is that a mortgage - any kind of mortgage, is going to need a hefty down payment. Also to be noted that fixed-rate loans are more in vogue than Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM). This is mostly because a lot of people got sucked in with unmanageable ARMs and lost their homes.

This doesn't, however, change the fact that a good Adjustable Rate Mortgage can save a lot of money in the long run. With fixed-rate mortgages, all that really needs to be worked out is the repayment period, as in the size and number of mortgage payments. For an ARM, get hold of a mortgage rate calculator on the internet, and start comparing offers. The most important thing to understand here is the difference between the interest rate and the APR, or annual percentage rate.

Countless people have paid a heavy price these last two years for failing to understand what APR means. Also important are credit ratings. Before the crash, even bad credit was no barrier to owning a home. But nowadays, no bank or lender will bet on someone who has bad credit. It's not easy to fix, and the down payment requirement only makes it more difficult.

It takes time, hard work and sacrifice in order to save money and build up sufficient credit for buying a home. To be noted that inspite of doing all this, many people have lost their homes and have been left saddled with debt in the aftermath of the subprime crash. Property values have dropped so much that in many cases the loan balance outstrips the sale value.

Even after giving up the house and losing all the payments already made, the borrowers ended up with a debt balance. To ensure this doesn't happen again, it is critically important to do a lot of research before looking at properties. Find the right loan and get pre-approval.

Get pre-approval for the loan, and only then set out on a hunt for a suitable home that matches the loan limits. This leaves enough room for mortgage & finance variations, and possible refinancing. It's also a good idea to maintain a contingency fund for making mortgage payments, to offset income loss or unexpected expenses.