I am planning to buy a house in California Area.
Thinking of taking a loan from a bank or any loan provider

Is it a good idea?
1. How can i manage to get a loan with less interest? I have a good credit history
2. Reaching out to real state agent for buying a house, is it a good idea?
Is there any other way than reaching out to real estate agent for this?

I have no knowledge on this sort of thing.
starting from sajha. :)
Any appropriate suggestion will be highly appreciated.

Congratulation Cali ma ghar kinna lako ma..I was surfing around for decent house near Bay area (not that i am going to buy it just looking since it is my dream city of US). And house prices gave me heart attack...

Good Thread!!! Ma pani ghar kinney soch ma chu, but i dont know about the process.
But in my case; i have not decided which state/City to settle for good. Too many factors to consider, before settling down.

जो संग सल्ला लिए पनि , उनि हरु बसेको ठाउँ नै सबैइ भन्दा राम्रो भन्छन ! हाहा !!! खै के खै के !!!

This is the worst time to buy a house in California. Please don't take a rash decision just for the sake of it.

why so keyser Soze? Due to impending drought?

Agree with most of what Adhikari has stated.

I think his question on realtors was regarding finding a house, not just the loan.

Reaching a real estate agent is not a bad idea. Try to get a good realtor that doesn't charge too high commission. There are too many paper works involved to do the buying on your own, specially for the first timer, but it is possible. You can find the homes in any realtor's listings or even craigslist.

I suggest you first look for a good realtor. Ask your friends/coworkers in the area. I think my realtor charged around 5% (including both buyer and seller realtor's commissions); don't pay over 6%. Then the realtor will show you houses that meet you criteria. You can also start looking for houses using redfins or other sites and if you like something, tell your realtor about it.
How do you find a good neighborhood? There are many criteria, but good way is to look for good schools. Redfin and Zillow list the schools affiliated to the zipcode that your house is in.

By California, I should've stated the Bay Area. I'm sure that inland areas (San Ramon, Walnut Creek, Lafayette are as expensive as SF, though) and Sacramento, Vacaville etc are quite affordable.

An average 3 bedroom home in a decent neighborhood is gonna cost anywhere between $700k to $2-3 million and shockingly, the trend will most likely continue for the next 5 years or so.

Two things led to this.

1. A ton of Chinese investors have bought homes as empty nests for the future because they can afford it. Things have gotten so damn crazy that just a few days ago, someone (most likely Chinese) paid $411,000 over the asking price!

Take a look at the properly bought for over a million.

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/This-San-Francisco-home-in-a-deteriorative-6161821.php

2. There's a massive shortage of houses thanks to techies moving in on huge masses. By techies, I'm not merely talking about some fresh outta college but department heads, regional managers, COOs, CEOs, and you get the idea.....

Just the other day, my buddy was venting frustration over his folly of not purchasing a 2-bedroom townhouse that was listed for $220k 3 years (during housing crisis). The same property's listed at $575k right now.

Unless you're filthy rich or have a pile of cash to burn, this really is a BAD time to purchase a house. Imagine getting fired from a job and consider mortgage that you'd be liable for!

Kiddo, If I am reading your lines correctly, did you mean we have to pay for realtor?. I don't think so. Realtor gets money from seller not from buyers. Seller has to pay 3% buying agent/realtor and 3% for selling agent/realtor. Correct me if I am wrong.
House prices are right now red hot due to low interest rate & large number Chinese, Korean & Japanese people buying houses these days. They are even buying half million dollar houses in cash these days.
Unless you have extremely good income I won't suggest buying a house anywhere in Cali because it's so expensive. I would suggest wait till summer when there will be more houses in the market and you have few more choices. Most of the schools are closed during summer because of summer break and people want to sell houses during that time.
Good luck!

thank you adhikari_bandu for all details.
thank you everyone for your output.
it was much helpful.
i ll keep exploring before i make a move.

Sajhamitra
You're right, I should've been more clear. Sellers pay the commission, buyers just pays for the house. However, if you have a good realtor, they pass on some percentage to the buyer. Some realtors (buyer's agent) pass 0.5-1.0% commission to the buyers.

Sorry for diverging but my two cents:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNL6f1xkie4

IPMan,
I have seen that video before and similar videos and logics of Rent Vs Buy and all the time I always question and logically it's incorrect.
Those arguments do not provide any kind of side advantages like Tax benefits. Most importantly, when you rent a house or apartment you are gaining nothing. Buying a house is not equivalent to buying a car where price go down with time. Infact it's opposite as economy progresses. To me renting is nothing more than flushing your money in your toilet because ultimately you don't own anything. Sure you don't have to do anything while renting a house but you are not gaining anything too.
Not to mention, you will be always living on the mercy of landlord. He can evict you from his house at anytime. These days interest rates are so low that it's almost like you are getting free money. Where else can you borrow money with less than 4%?

Sajha Mitra,
You are right.
I also don't believe that Renting is always better than buying. As the videos suggest, it will depend on individual case.
But what I think is that, getting a loan at affordable interest rate doesn't mean you have to buy a house at least in California where price of house touches sky.
To put simply, as far as I am concerned, I will only buy a house if I can pay all the money upfront and have multiple sources of income.
And SajhaMitra, if a landlord can evict you, so as your boss can also fire you. And you need to be prepare for that situation as well.

Cali ma ghar kinni sapana..sapanai rahani bhayo....khaderi parera jhan daar lagdo po bhayo

khaderi parda ta price swatta ghatcha hola..
this is the time one should buy..