Here's a quick summary of what this person is looking for:

  • OP feels overwhelmed, distrustful of lenders, and unsure where to learn the basics of mortgages, fees, and the homebuying process.

  • Home prices have risen faster than their savings; they’ve saved $60k and have solid credit, but feel frozen by fear, jargon, and past bad loan experiences.

  • They want simple, trustworthy, beginner-friendly resources and clear guidance on what to know, what to avoid, and how to get started without relying on local agents or vague “shop around” advice.

Here it is:

Please help. I have only had two loans in my life and feel like I want to get a handle on how mortgages work, and all homebuying fees and what to look for. Which banks are good to choose?

Start with the bank where you do your checking and savings, or a local credit union.

Look for a mortgage broker as well. A mortgage broker is usually paid on commission. Their rates can vary, but most will be available at flexible hours for you.

Telling me shop around doesn't help.

Here's a guide on how to "shop around"

Rural depressed area where everyone knows each other so don't want to ask a realtor. Don't have any close friends or family to ask. Give me recommendations?

Here's a mortgage broker finder, if you need one.

Places to avoid like the plague?

There are online lenders that have call-center loan officers that have poor training.

I am clueless and have a distrust of loans, compounded by my ignorance.

I have saved 60k and was starting to plump up emergency fund, but feel like my DP goalpost keeps moving. Along with the price of homes! I started out looking in the 250-300k range a couple years ago, but now comparable properties are 325-375k. Eek.

Home prices inflating will hurt the value of your down payment savings.

One way to avoid this is to purchase the home with a smaller down payment than you originally wanted, then pay extra toward the principal.

I don't understand any of this and while I feel like these posts are helping me get familiar with some of the jargon, it's not enough for me to understand. Nor are web articles. I feel like they gloss over so much. I see people getting ripped off or blindsided here a lot. So "talk to a lender" is not the way to learn as the lender has incentive to make money from you.

This person might benefit from my post "how to make sure your lender isn't screwing you over"

So what do we need to know that we don't know about financial issues? How to learn the basics? How to find out what people wish they knew before they started? Is there any one good book or resource? Dummies? Anything you recommend?

Here's a guide start to finish, should cover the basics

I work full time, am a part time college student and I am physically handicapped... need to keep learning simple and manageable.

I will have other questions, but getting a handle on the financials has to come first. I feel frozen in the entire process due to ignorance and fear. Some of these posts look like Greek to me. I grew up in poverty. My husband and I have been renting, and I have only just started building a savings portfolio beyond my own bank. Have had 1 crappy car loan and one ok loan that I still feel we got blindsided on. Last minute add-ons and surprise charges that I didn't know about. Have had crappy credit cards.

I just pulled a free credit for all 3 on their web sites. FICO 8 middle numbers are 740 and 760 and should continue to climb. Working on that. Both were over 800 but wasn't using my cards, and car loan dropped off.

740+ credit is solid. You'll get decent rates on conventional mortgage with that.

All that to say, I am not picking up on what I read here as quickly as I was hoping. Where can I find solid information to help me learn the basics?

Here's another post, it's a library of posts, tools, and resources. You can bookmark it and come back to learn more, little by little. Hopefully this helps!

Sam