Yahoo and Zillow are combining forces to make Zillow the exclusive sales partner to existing home sales advertisers on Yahoo. This partnership will form the largest real estate ad network for existing home advertisers. According to ClickZ,  Zillow which currently offers enhanced listings and profile pages for agents, will also be included on Yahoo Real Estate placements. Zillow’s for-sale listings, showcase ads, and featured listings will also be fed to Yahoo’s site. Yahoo Real Estate and Zillow currently rank second and third among top real estate sites, Realtor.com tops the rankings.

The two companies have worked together since 2006, and partnered separately with a large percentage of the same newspaper site publishers.. Bringing their resources together to become one bigger better force will logically be a positive move.

With all the foreclosures happening around in the country, this time could be ideal for those that are looking to buy a home.  However, there are some things that really need to be looked at before doing this.  According to US News & World Report these are the things to take a look at before you consider buying a home:

1. Make sure your financial house is in order

In order to get the best interest rate possible, pull your credit prior to looking at getting a home.   Make sure everything looks positive and get the proper help in order to resolve any outstanding items.  Also, look at your overall financial portfolio and how much more you can handle on a monthly basis.  Don’t go buy a home if you are unstable in your current job.

2. Buy a home, not an investment

There is still a possibility that the housing market will continue to suffer.  Knowing this, don’t go out looking for just a cheap deal.  Get a home that you want to live in and make it a “home”.  Much of our housing economy is in this position potentially because of the number of “investment” properties that were purchased in years past.

3. Be conservative

Don’t go overboard with the future payments of the home you are looking at.  Things are still not stable in our US economy, so be a little on the conservative side with that additional “bills” you take on.

4. Get those concessions

There are a lot of homes for sale right now, therefore getting extra incentives with the home is a possibility.  It does not hurt to ask!

5. Check out foreclosures

Check out foreclosures first and see if there are any home that appeal to you.  However, working with a foreclosure home or short sale home takes some knowledge, so get with the appropriate person who knows how to handle the transaction.

The bottom line is is this is a great time to go get a home, however do your homework first, so you do not become a part of the national statistics of people loosing their homes.  Pull your credit, research home values before moving forward with anything.  It will certainly benefit you in the long run.  Leadpile Lead Exchange is currently working with the home purchase lead type.  These are people looking to buy a home and we are always looking for more companies looking to help these consumers to get that home.