Our advice? Save save save! We thought about doing an FHA loan with 3% down, but after doing some more saving and waiting, we were able to do a conventional loan with a 30 year fixed rate. Having a conventional loan means that there are less stringent rules on what kinds of properties you can buy (and have financed). An FHA loan is government backed. You can get one with less of a down payment, but you have to jump through more hoops and they might not finance certain homes with higher needs.
We highly recommend doing your own research and crunching your own numbers before talking to a loan office. We started with Mortgage for Dummies and The Complete Idiots Guide to Buying a Home. They are easy reads and great for beginners. Andrew also did Excel spreadsheets up the ying yang of our finances. This made us less of a easy target when meeting with loan officer. Also, do yourself a favor and do a BBB check on your mortgage company.
This is probably the least fun job but the most important. Trust me, you don't want to be an unarmed bozo when it comes to dealing with these people.
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