<prompt> Human: Hello rpersonalfinanceFirst off, this sub has helped me a lot over the years with realizing where I am leaking money, so thank you!I am currently in the process of buying a house. This will be a house owned solely by me, but I eventually probably early next year will be having my girlfriend move in the house and negotiate some sort of fair rent deal.I am 26 years old and my income fluctuates slightly based on profession but I can realistically expect to make 70-130k a year depending on how hard I workvarious factors. As mentioned earlier, my girlfriend will be living with me and paying a portion of the mortgage in rent.I have been preapproved for a few loans, the best one being for up to 300k.I plan on putting down exactly 20 to avoid the mortgage insurance fees, which I assume will be roughly 80k.So my questions -Im looking at a lot of new build homes as they are desirable to me and in abundance in my area. Oftentimes the list price of the homes Im interest in will be between 290-340k. Common sense alone tells me that after upgrades and all the other fees that arent listed on a simple sales sheet, the cost will be much more than that.Im trying my best to educate myself on hidden costs like lot premiums. What else am I missing when trying to estimate how much extra the costs of these homes will be when compared to sticker price?I am also under the impression that when purchasing new builds there is very little wiggle room for negotiations on the price of the home. As I said, Ive been pre-approved by two different banks for about 300k which should be more than enough, but my realtor says that using the lender of the home builder could potentially save the closing costs.So even if I was to find a home that I wanted to purchase, I am a little lost on how to figure out which loan to use. Should I just be roughly estimated the saving closing costs if I can even get that vs the lower interest rate of a third party bank?The process is very overwhelming to me and I figure this sub is a great place to post.Keep in mind this is a first home for me, so no experience at all. No information given is mundane.Thank you.  <response>: The builder should be able to give you the final price of the house with all upgrades and the cost of the home owners association annual dues. The hidden costs will be more of closing cost of the loan that are charged by the bank...origination fees, title insurance, document fees, and attorney closing costs, etc. And the county will charge you property taxes. And you will need home owners insurance. And then you want to budget a couple of grand each year for maintenance and repairs. 