<prompt> Human: I rent a house in a small municipality outside of Kansas City. I absolutely love my house, love the area, love my neighbors mostly and probably want to live there forever. Its a currently booming area, and from what little Ive read, the value of houses in the area are on the rise, and will continue to be for a while. Its turning into the new trendy neighborhood in the city The municipality even offers free gigabit internet!.About a year ago, my landlord contacted me and said he had some business venture he was interested in and was looking for ways to free up collateral. He was entertaining the idea of selling us the house we live in for that purpose. I told him I would very much be interested in it, and we tentatively started talking about how to proceed. Before we really laid out any details, he told me his business venture fell through. He decided he wasnt looking to sell the house right now, but asked me to keep it in consideration if an opportunity presented itself in the future. That day is today. He called my wife and told her hes looking to sell it again, and I want this damn thing badly. Problem is I have no idea what Im doing.Neither of us landlord and I have any idea what the house is worth. He probably hasnt had it appraised since he went through the buying process with it. Weve never owned a house before and have never even really researched the home buying process. Hes told us that he wouldnt really be interested in turning a big profit on it or anything if he sold to us Weve lived here for years, and as far as I can tell are very good tenants. He said he would just want to get it appraised and probably sell it for whatever the appraisal value is. All this talk is starting to get into murky waters were Im a scared novice. Do I also need to get it appraised? I have friends who have real-estate contacts from their home purchases, should I just see if I can get one of them to informally look at it? When should I talk to a bank? Are there any tips you may have for the process of talking to or picking a bank for this? Is it beneficial to try my own bank first we dont have a high profile account or anything, two checkings and a savings we share thats mainly just used to pass bill money back and fourth? Would it be wrong to get it appraised by someone outside of my landlords plans? I know theres programs for first time home buyers. Do any of you have recommendations for sources information on that subject? Is there anything we should do debt wise to help our loan process? We have credit card debt that just kind of ebbs and flows. Well buy a TV or something, then pay it off before interest kicks in, then make another big purchase and repeat. We have a few small medical bills that we actively pay on. I have student loans that Ive been getting a forbearance on for the past year. I know I need to do something with this, and that I probably need to start looking at consolidation solutions, and that this sub probably has a fantastic aid for it in the wiki. I just havent gotten around to looking at it yet. The student loans thing pretty big topic to get into details on within this post. So Ill save those questions to keep this thing in scope, but if you want to throw any suggestions or advice in here about that go for it.Um... I cant think of anything else, but if I do, Ill put it in the comments. Thanks for reading my wall of text, and for any advice you can give!EDITWow... tons of feedback on this. Thanks guys! Ive been working or sleeping exclusively since I made this post. This weekend, my wife and I will go through all these responses and react accordingly. Ill likely reply to many of you with more questions better safe than sorry. So again, thank you all so much!  <response>: When should I talk to a bank?Now, and they will require an appraisal likely, and you to be preapproved, expect to spend a few hundred at least here. Are there any tips you may have for the process of talking to or picking a bank for this?Look at their reviews online, call and shop rates, especially if you know your credit score you can inquire a ballpark rate some even update their sites dailyweekly with mortgage rates Is it beneficial to try my own bank first we dont have a high profile account or anything, two checkings and a savings we share thats mainly just used to pass bill money back and fourth?Some banks, like mine, offer a specific portion of a off if you have an account already with them and auto pay your payments, never hurts to ask. Would it be wrong to get it appraised by someone outside of my landlords plans?The bank wont allow a random appraiser to submit property value, they almost always have their own group of folk they use that are approved. I know theres programs for first time home buyers. Do any of you have recommendations for sources information on that subject?Google First time home buyer credit, unsure if its still out there. I know some credit unions offer special packages to veterans, first time buyers, etc. Banks can help with this as well. Is there anything we should do debt wise to help our loan process? Obviously stay away from large purchases for a while, but showing revolving CC debt isnt terrible. The banks will usually calculate your minimum payment against you, not the entire payment you make monthly to it.The biggest thing will be debt-to-income ratio. Just determine your wife and your household gross income and look up debt-to-income and go from there. 