Happy New Year, everyone!

As we start our romp through 2009, I thought it might be a good time to think about home ownership.  Some of you GenXers might be looking to buy your first home and with all the foreclosures out there, 2009 might be an excellent year to find that dream house.  Good for you!

Then there are folks out there who might have to deal with a job loss, or some unforeseen issue that impacts your ability to pay your mortgage.  This is a tough situation, and considering the current trend of layoffs, one that many of us will have to deal with in 2009.

I have a couple of links here to help with either of these scenarios.  This first link provides info and advice if you suddenly end up in a situation where you cannot pay your mortgage:

Help for Home Owners Facing the Loss of Their Homes

This link will help you if you are lucky enough to be able to buy a home in these trying times:

Tips For Buying a New Home in 2009

I hesitate in giving advice on these matters, as I am not a professional financial planner, but one thing you might want to check out is services offered by Credit Unions.  Credit Unions offer some of the best financial products like no fee ATM usage, totally free checking with no minimum balance requirements, car leasing programs, etc.  They also offer hard-to-beat interest rates for all kinds of loans.  Credit Unions are usually pretty flexible with membership.  If you your job doesn’t offer a credit union membership, but a family member’s job does, that might be good enough for you to join.  And if you change jobs or move, your membership is unaffected.

Good luck and enjoy/save that Dream House!