DOs and DONTs for First Time Loan

[Rebecca Samarelli]

My husband and I are looking to buy our first property and we just got pre-approved for a Conventional loan with 5% down, 30 year fixed rate. We are still very new to the game, what are the things to look out for when structuring the loan? For example, our broker told us that if we put down 10% we don't have to pay for Mortgage Insurance, or that we have an option of doing a rate buydown. Do or don't?

We are currently looking at buying either a single family to live in for one year, fix and rent or a duplex to house hack around Miami, FL with a budget of around $500k.