First of all, don't take advice from ACORN. They are being investigated in many states for voter fraud and contributed to and possibly started the housing crisis. I don't think they can be trusted. With the cost of housing lower than it's been in a long time, now may be the time to buy. However, there is a bill that was passed by the House and is being looked at by the Senate that may change things. They are trying to require all new buildings to be built to the highest energy efficient standards possible. They also want to force current homeowners to make improvements on their existing homes. Without these forced improvements, you won't be able to sell your home until the improvements are done. If you don't make the improvements in a certain timeframe, your home can be considered condemned and you won't be allowed to live in it. For buying a home, this will skyrocket home prices if the bill becomes law if those parts aren't stripped from the bill. This is all part of the cap and trade bill.
If you buy a home on a terraced hill, make sure you buy one on the cut side of the slope. There are two sides, the cut side and the fill side. The cut side is the side of the hill that the dirt was cut out from. The fill side is where that dirt gets piled up and leveled out to make the terrace wider. Water runoff naturally will try to flow down the original slope of the hill since the dirt on the fill side won't be as dense as the cut side. This leads to water running under the house on the fill side which eventually causes mudslides, damaged foundations as the house slowly slides, and sometimes sinkholes. There were problems like this not too long ago in La Jolla in San Diego County, California.
If you buy a house near a lake, river, or stream, make sure that the house sits well above the 100 year flood plain. That is the standard in the U.S.. Houses can be built down to the 100 year flood plain. This is the level water can rise to in record flooding about every 100 years. The problem is that new construction actually changes where the 100 year flood plain is and that isn't taken into account when new buildings are placed. If you have many houses built close together, the water is going to get to a higher level than if it was an open field simply because the houses displace some of the water. The houses also tend to make it so there is less soil for the water to absorb into before flooding. Paved roads have the same effect. This is one of the reasons why more houses than ever get flooded during hurricanes, it's not global warming.
Make sure you read up on the building codes in your area. Older homes sometimes are required to be updated to current building code standards when remodels are done. In Southern California, it's very hard to get a permit to build a new house or to build another house on your property. People actually build an attached expansion of the house bigger than the house and then sometimes build around the existing house before demolishing the old house. New construction building permits can be hard to get, but "remodeling" is a lot easier to get away with. If building a new house requires you to drill a large, deep hole and lower an engineer into it, get a different house or property. It also helps to know the current value of the house from an appraisal. Find out how much you will have to pay in property taxes as high property taxes will make it harder to pay off a mortgage in the long run.
Look for the things you need for the property. Is it close to your work? Paying a lot for gas commuting will make the house more expensive to pay off. Are there any water restrictions or energy shortages in the area? You could be fined by simply using the amount of water you need. Water shortages and energy shortages are followed by people leaving the area, job losses, and home prices dropping. Can you have pets in the area? Is there any sort of home owners association that will give you rules you need to follow or charge a fee? Are there any annoying or dangerous neighbors? Are the schools in the area decent for your kids? Keep all this in mind when looking for a new home, and good luck.
