Sometimes it’s hard enough to afford that breakfast bagel… forget buying a house, right? Wrong. Mortgage expert Adam Hiner, shared with Savvy Miss the mortgage basics and why you’re not too broke to own your own home.

SM: How do you know when you’re ready to stop renting and buy your first home?
Hiner: When I’m thinking about whether I want to rent or buy, I compare what I can rent something for versus what my total payments would be if I bought a place. For example, right now by the beach in San Diego, I can rent a pretty nice apartment within a couple blocks of the beach for $800 a month. There’s no way I can come even close to buying a place right by the beach for $800 a month. But if I wasn’t so concerned about living on the waterfront, I could [afford to] buy a little condo a mile away from the beach.

SM: When buying a house, which comes first: the realtor or the loan officer?
Hiner: The first thing a realtor will ask you is, “How much are you looking to spend?” So, I would always recommend talking first with a loan officer to find out what sort of mortgage you can qualify for. It gives you a ballpark of what you should be looking at, so you don’t set your heart on a house that you flat-out can’t afford.

SM: How much money do you need to have saved up before you can buy a place?
Hiner: Well basically, you don’t have to put any money down. A lot of people go 100% financing—take out a mortgage for the full amount of the home’s purchase price. You DO need some money though, for closing costs. If you’ve got about $6,000—which should give you money for closing costs, as well as a little money in the bank (which lenders like to see)—you’ve got enough to buy a house.