<prompt> Human: I am trying to be a first time home owner but I am attempting to use it as rental property. I just wanted an idea of all the steps I should take to maximize my potential profits. It a 139,000 home, I have not attempted to haggle do people do that? and I have about 15k to put down. I make around 40k with an increase coming, have minimal bills 600 a month and almost perfect credit.So far I plan on:1. Getting pre approved for a mortgage and finding out the monthly payment2. Getting it appraised and inspected3, Finding out closing costs which Im not sure what that includesI also have an option to manage the property myself or get a company to do it for me. Has anyone been through this process and have some advice?  <response>: I just went through the process of buying a house last year at this time. For a home you wont be living in, youre going to need at least 20 down and will have a higher interest rate. A real estate agent wont give you much time besides some answers to a few questions unless youre already pre-approved for a mortgage. Once youre approved lenders tend to have more resourcesknowlegdge of the different types of loans you can get as opposed to a local bank. you get a real estate agent. Give them all your requirements in what youre looking for. from what you wrote, it seems like you already have one picked out. I looked at about 20 houses before i found one that wasnt a POS despite the picsinfo. so you should provide the agent with your requirements anyways so they can look for you. Remember, your agent works for YOU and does not get paid unless you make a purchase. Even then, they are getting paid by the seller its in the closing costs of the seller. Most understand that everything needs to perfect in the home and do not mind looking at a bunch before you decide to make an offer on one.Once you make an offerusually along with a small deposit so they know youre serious about following through and they accept. Then the waiting begins. You will need to get a lawyer to handle the purchase and sale agreement and your agent will do their due diligence in making sure there are no back taxes owed and the deed is free and clear to transfer. once that is all taken care of it will got to underwriting where someone sifts through everything in your finances and credit report to make sure you can afford it and can make the monthly payments.While thats happening, you will get the house inspected. The lender will have an appraiser come out to appraise the property and will compare to equal houses in the area that have recently sold. If it does not appraise to the purchase price then you can walk away right there or you have the choice to negotiate a new price that does not exceed the appraisal. Your closing cost will include your lawyer fees, and various lenderunderwriting fees. Im not sure if they do this with every new mortgage loan now or just the loan type i got. But they break down the property taxes, house insurance and PMIwhich you wont need since you have more than 18 down payment and add it to my monthly mortgage payment so the burden responsibility inst put on me to pay my taxes quarterly, and my insurance premiums yearly. I feel like this was put in place due to the amount of loans that were given out before the recession that put that responsibility on the borrower.Hopes this made sensehelped! 