Q. I’m buying my first house. I am pretty sure I can spend $150,000 for my house because I did some calculations online. Problem is, lenders won’t give me a firm quote until I buy something. What gives?

A. Online calculators can be excellent tools, but remember there are many costs associated with buying a house. One of those is the tax rate in the area you buy. You won’t know that until you pick a property. You also will have to buy Private Mortgage Insurance if you put less than 20 percent down. PMI can change your monthly mortgage payment significantly.
No lender can give you an estimate until you have an address of the property you hope to buy. An address is required for the Loan Estimate, a three-page disclosure document.
Start your home search by getting pre-approved for a loan. Go to a lender and give basic information about your finances. The lender will pull a credit report and discuss your income and debt. You should have no more than 43 percent debt to income. Usually, 36 percent is preferred.
Once pre-approved you can get an agent and shop for your home. When you do find the property you want to buy, you can apply for a mortgage by going to different lenders and getting a Loan Estimate from each. The Loan Estimate, which has to be issued within three days after you apply, will give you detailed information about the loan, including the loan amount, interest rate, monthly payments and whether these can change.
The Loan Estimate will also tell you the amount of cash you need to close and the estimated costs to close.
It will list fees for things you can’t shop for (appraisals, for instance) and things you can shop for (pest inspection, for example).

You can get just about anything online: housewares, food, and even cars.

There are now companies that take advantage of internet technologies to allow you to inspect a vehicle online, to secure money back guarantees, even deliver your new-to-you vehicle to your door. Popular options include Vroom.com, Carvana, TrueCar and Beepi.

Vroom (Vroom.com) is a car buying site that allows users to purchase cars in just a few steps. Choose a car, review coverages and pay. Delivery of your vehicle is scheduled once they receive your payment. Vroom offers a 90-day/6,000-mile warranty that covers all of a vehicle’s mechanical parts. The company also offers 24-hours roadside assistance, Inside-Out Guard for protection of paint, interior fabrics, and the windshield. You can even get a warranty booster and extend the manufacturer’s warranty for up to five years. Vroom handles titling and registration of your new vehicle. Vroom owns the vehicles they are trying to sell and reconditions the vehicles before selling.

Carvana (Carvana.com) allows you to shop from your desk. This company offers only Carvana certified vehicles, and allows people to see the vehicles they are interested in – inside and out – so they know a vehicle’s imperfections. Once you buy, you’ll have the option to fly in and pick up your car, or have it delivered. Upon delivery, you have seven days to return the car and get your money back. If you keep the car, you’ll have a 100-day/4,189 mile guarantee.

Beepi (Beepi.com) allows one to search by vehicle make, body type, year, and a wide range of other options. Beepi delivers your chosen vehicle and gives a full-service warranty as well as a 10-day money back guarantee.

TrueCar lets you shop used cars in your immediate area, showing you market price compared to dealer’s price.

When it comes to hair, three truths stand out: Many people have lost it, many want it back, and the person who invents that cure will have plenty of customers.

According to the Hair Society, about 35 million men, and 21 million women suffer from hair loss.

The best hope is two new drugs that have been demonstrated to grow thick, normal hair in mice.

Reported in 2015 in the journal, Science Advances, two drugs, approved by the FDA for other uses, have been demonstrated to grow coats of hair on bald mice in just 10 days. The drugs are enzyme inhibitors reawaken the hair follicles from their resting state to their active state. The drugs, Ruxolitinib and Tofacitinib, have been tested in cases of Alopecia Areata, but new trials will test their effects on male pattern baldness. Alopecia Areata is the sudden loss of hair in patches.

In fact, hair growth in the case of Alopecia was a surprise side effect in a Yale study on plaque psoriasis. At the end of the seven-month study, one patient who had not shown hair growth for seven years ended up with a full head of hair.

The drugs are promising, but trials, expected to be completed in 2016, are still incomplete.

On the scale of fake promises, hair regrowth has to be in the top 10, right behind miracle weight loss pills. From herbal supplements to laser hair brushes, the claims to cure are legion, but the results are sketchy to non-existent.

Medications like Rogaine and Propecia can regrow hair in cases of Alopecia. The treatment is lifelong. But people can see some results in three to four months.

Speak to a doctor and do your research before you choose a hair loss treatment.

College is an expensive proposition and costs vary widely, from public to private universities.

According to the College Board, in-state students in a public four-year college can expect to pay about $9,500 per year; out of state students pay approximately $24,000. A private four-year college, costs about $33,000, as of 2016 for tuition and fees. That doesn’t include housing, books, food, and incidentals.

Preparing for this expense can be daunting for parents, but one option is the 529 plan. This is a type of savings and investment plan, which has been around since the late 1990s.

There are two types of 529 plans. The first is a prepaid tuition plan, which can be used to purchase 1-4 years of tuition, and when a student reaches college age, pays out at the tuition rates at the time of purchase. The second is a college savings plan.

With the college savings plan, there are a variety of ways to invest the funds. Account earnings are based on how investments perform. This type of plan is available in 49 states and Washington D.C.

The College Board notes that the published price and the “net” price of college often differ greatly. So you may not have to save as much. Some investment professionals suggest that families save about 25 percent of what their child’s education will cost

There’s another aspect that could bring a college tuition bill to a lower-than-expected level: tax credits. The IRS offers the American Opportunity Tax Credit, up to $2,500. Student loan interest can bring a deduction of as much as $2,500.

Funds in a 529 plan can be used for a variety of college-related costs. These include tuition, room and board, computers and supplies, even food. A word of warning: look at what the school would charge, because that is the limit of what is considered a qualified expense for spending 529 plan funds.

Home inspectors actually save stress, even lower prices

For buyers and sellers, having a professional house inspection can ensure a happy sale.

According to a study by the American Society of Home Inspectors and the National Association of Realtors), about four out of five homes sold in the nation are inspected before sale.

No wonder: An inspection helps parties on both sides of the sale.

For the buyer, the inspection is an obvious contingency. Buyers don’t want expensive surprises after sale. A home inspection reveals the systemic condition of the home, not just whether the paint is new.

Inspectors take a close look at the home’s inner health in 10 areas: interior and exterior, structure, roofing, plumbing, electrical, heating, air conditioning, and ventilation, and fireplaces.

These evaluations are detailed. For example, in the case of roofs, inspectors will study shingles, flashings, roof drainage, skylights and chimneys.

Of course, even a house with some problems can sell, but the price will reflect needed repairs

That’s where the seller’s inspection comes in.

A seller is just as motivated as the buyer to know what is wrong with a house because necessary, but unfinished, repairs mean a lower price at sale, or even a deal that falls through.

A home inspection gives sellers the chance to fix things before the house goes on the market and it is an important part of the clean-up, fix-up process.

You might not want to put on a new roof, but repairing the flashings and roof gutters, puts your house in a solid light. Buyers might not expect a new roof, but they don’t want to find leaks.

There are a variety of specific things that a home inspection can look for, depending on an individual’s concerns. For example, a radon inspection checks a home for levels of radioactive gas and takes between two and seven days to complete. A termite inspection looks for damage to the wood structures of a home. With homes that have a well for water, well water testing is another option; for homes with a septic or oil tank, examination of those structures may be part of an inspection as well.

A general inspection should consider the condition of the roof, the water pressure and plumbing, electrical outlets and switches, and the crawl space and attic, according to HGTV.

Finally, if you have a home inspection, find a place to sit down and relax. Don’t follow the inspector around. After all, the inspector is working for you and the report will be for you only.

Watch for scam sites by looking at the domain (paypal.com is a domain), not just the design. Design can be mimicked. Addresses can’t. It is not paypal, if the address is paypol.com. If you are at all suspicious, don’t put in your password. If you do put in a correct password, a phishing site will often repeatedly say it is wrong. That way they can get all your passwords.