One of the most important first-time home buyer steps is seeking pre-approval from a lender for a mortgage. The mortgage lender will scrutinize your financial background, such as your debt-to-income ratio and assets, and use this info to determine whether to loan you money, and what size monthly payment you can realistically afford. This will help you target homes in your price range. And that’s good, because a purchase price that’s beyond your financial reach will make you sweat your mortgage payment and puts you at risk of defaulting on your loan.