Buying a home is not an easy task. In fact, for first time buyers, there are few things more confusing than the process of buying a house from start to finish, and many first timers don’t know exactly where the start of the process actually is. Here are a few tips that will make life easier for the first time home buyer.

Say, for example, that you are interested in investing in Illinois real estate. You either are looking for a new home for yourself and your family, or you just like the investment potential. The very first thing you need to do before looking for the right Illinois real estate investment is take a look at your finances and determine how much you can afford to spend.

There are several resources available to help you calculate your mortgage and figure out what you can afford to spend on your Illinois real estate investment, but for simplicity sake we’ll stick with the formula of three times your annual income. Of course other factors can affect this formula enabling you to afford more or less, but it is a general rule.

You should also meet with your chosen lending institution to research interest rates on mortgages, find the best rate available, and try to get pre-approved for a loan. Getting pre-approved for a loan is one on the best things you can do going into the house purchasing process, it gives you and your seller confidence knowing you can pay exactly what you say you can.

Once you have determined how much you can afford to spend on a house, you should hire an Illinois real estate agent. Some people chose not to hire a Realtor, believing their services cost too much, and end up struggling through the house searching and purchasing process all by themselves. This is unfortunate because it is not the buyer, but the seller who pays a real estate agent, so there is really no drawback to getting an agent working for you, and you also get the benefit of their expert Illinois real estate advice.

Illinois is definitely not known for its excellent walleye fishing. Most anglers that live in Illinois will plan their fishing trip to Wisconsin, Minnesota, Canada or Lake Erie when they want to fill their coolers with walleye. There are some places that you can consistently catch walleye and sauger and if you are within a short drive to these waters, you can catch some nice fish for the dinner table.

When most people think of walleye, they typically think of fishing lakes and rivers farther to the north, but in Illinois, it seems like some of the best walleye waters are to the south. Some of the lakes in the southern part of the state that have plenty of walleye in them are Lake Carlton, Clinton Lake, Kinkaid Lake and Evergreen Lake. Head out to the western Illinois area and you will find Pittsfield City Lake, which is probably the best walleye lake in the state for big fish.

Once you head up north, there are a few lakes to focus on to go along with a few rivers. Lake Shabbona is located a couple of hours west of Chicago and it is mostly known for its state record muskies. People would talk more about the walleye fishing if you were allowed to fish after dark on this lake. There are plenty of walleye in the lake with many trophy-sized fish, but the extremely heavy fishing pressure here makes it difficult to land more than a couple of fish per outing and some anglers that fish out here never catch a walleye.

The Fox Chain of Lakes is a popular boating and fishing destination. The walleye fishing can very good here in the spring and fall. Summers can be tough because the pleasure boaters are all over the lake and they seem to get up earlier and earlier every summer. It is not uncommon to see someone on a jet ski at 8 in the morning during the summer. There are plenty of lakes to fish in this chain and many of them produce healthy populations of keeper-size walleye.