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The Home Buyer's Handbook is written and published by the Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson.

As with most amortized loans, you pay off more interest (than principal) at the beginning of the 30 years of your fixed rate mortgage. As you pay your mortgage over time, this will slowly switch and you’ll reach a point where you’ll be paying more off in principal than interest. What this means is as you first pay off your 30 year fixed rate mortgage, your principal balance won’t decrease very much in the first couple of years, due to you paying off, mainly, interest. Once you begin paying off more principal in the later years, you’ll see your mortgage balance decrease faster.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in down payment help is out there. We help you find it! Just answer a few questions about your household and see how many programs may match your circumstances.

Home buyer education can help you make the smart choices for yourself and your family. With services available online, in person and by phone, everyone in Minnesota has access to the education they need to make smart choices. By completing a home buyer education program, you may also qualify for special financing programs or down payment assistance that will make home ownership more affordable. We recommend that you check with your lender to determine which program they will accept.

The total cost of homeownership is much more than just the mortgage. Commuting expenses, different auto insurance rates, utility bills, daycare costs, family size and so much more factor in to your monthly expenses. The new integration of TLCengine into NorthstarMLS, our agents can help consumers factor over 31 unique variables and show all the ‘hidden costs’ of homeownership including local property taxes, commute costs, utility costs, and much more using data from a mix of public and private sources including national, state, and local level data.