No matter your income or wealth, when you’re buying your first home, the mortgage process can seem bewildering.

“With so many moving parts, the process is nerve-racking for many folks not in the finance field. First, you’re under pressure to gather all your personal financial information. Then you worry your loan could fall through, which could cost you the chance to acquire your dream home,” says Keith Gumbinger, a vice president at HSH Associates, which tracks mortgage markets throughout the country.

Another factor that’s stressing buyers is recent uncertainty over the direction of mortgage rates. If rates rise significantly before their deal closes, buyers fear they could lose the ability to afford the house they’ve selected.

“Rates have been very volatile in recent weeks and could be more so as 2017 progresses,” says Gumbinger, who’s worked as a mortgage market analyst since 1984.

Given the difficulties facing first-time buyers, he says that finding a mortgage lender who offers personalized service can be very helpful.

Here are a few tips for buyers:

-- Initiate your mortgage search early.

The mortgage market is always evolving. With mortgage rates still hovering near historic lows, the overwhelming favorite choice of most homebuyers is a fixed-rate mortgage. Still, new products are constantly developing to appeal to a divergent set of buyers.

“Keep an open mind and explore your mortgage options,” says Sid Davis, a veteran real estate broker and author of “A Survival Guide for Buying a Home.”

Most mortgage innovations involve adjustable-rate mortgages of one type or another. But they can differ dramatically relative to their names, terms and conditions.

“There are many puzzling twists and turns, especially with adjustable loans. That’s why it’s critical you know what you’re getting into before you commit to any mortgage product, fixed or adjustable,” Gumbinger says.

He says that both first-time buyers and those with more experience need as much lead time as possible to educate themselves on mortgage basics, to cull through alternative home loan choices, and to compare lenders and rates.

-- Look for a lender willing to get you started with tutorials.

Gerri Detweiler, a consumer advocate and author of “The Ultimate Credit Handbook,” encourages first-time buyers to seek out a mortgage lender who will instruct them on the intricacies of home loans.

“A good lender won’t think it unreasonable to spend a couple of hours teaching you the basics and helping you deal with potential flaws on your credit reports,” says Detweiler, who offers free credit pointers on her website, www.gerridetweiler.com.

But how do you find a sympathetic lender willing to usher you through your first or second attempt at home finance?

Gumbinger says real estate agents are usually a good bet for sound advice on finding a qualified lender. But he says you should look well beyond the suggestions of agents.

“For referrals, I recommend you use what I call the Satisfied Customer Index, also known as friends and family,” he says.

-- Go into the lender’s office fully prepared.

To maximize the use of your time and that of the lender you’ve chosen for your preliminary tutorials, there’s no substitute for gathering key documents in advance of your meeting. Ideally, these should include recent pay stubs, your latest W-2, a couple of years’ worth of federal tax returns, and bank account statements.

Using these documents, your lender should be able to quickly calculate your top borrowing limit and also assess your eligibility for various lending programs.

“Well before you’re ready to apply for a loan, you can bring the whole mortgage picture into much clearer focus by supplying basic documents related to your financial life,” Gumbinger says.

-- Determine your credit standing to make sure you get the best possible rate.

Under federal law, you're entitled to one free credit report each year from the three largest credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You can easily request these online at www.annualcreditreport.com.

Besides your credit reports, you'll want to access your credit scores. Such scores, which draw on data from the credit bureaus, seek to provide lenders with a quantitative measure of a person's credit risk. Most lenders still use FICO scores, pioneered by the Fair Isaac Corp. In most cases, you'll need to pay a fee to obtain your credit scores. One way to get them is through the Fair Isaac website: www.myfico.com. You can also receive credit scores through the three large credit bureaus.

Once you’ve chosen a property you want to buy, it’s time to get serious about making your mortgage application. And with your credit scores in hand, you can readily begin the process of comparison shopping on rates.

As Gumbinger says, you may wish to start the rate-shopping process with the lender who tutored you in the basics of home finance.

But he strongly suggests you extend your rate hunt well beyond the first lender you consulted. And he recommends you include community banks and credit unions in your search.

“It sounds like overkill. But it’s smart to take the time to make enough extra phone calls to collect at least a dozen rate quotes before going forward with a formal mortgage application,” Gumbinger says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

The house looked like a castle -- a French provincial on a large yard in a cushy gated development. But its owners were exhausted by their long commutes and wished to move closer to their jobs.

Unfortunately, it took them more than a year and two price cuts to finally sell their mansionlike property. This didn’t surprise their listing agent, Ashley Richardson, who often represents the owners of such high-end homes.

“The luxury market is always a limited market. That’s because there are relatively fewer buyers with enough income to support payments on an upper-tier house,” says Richardson, who’s affiliated with the Council of Residential Specialists (www.crs.com).

Other factors are also contributing to the situation. “In some big costly markets, there’s been a lot of new construction in the premium segment,” says Ralph McLaughlin, the chief economist for Trulia (www.trulia.com), the online real estate service for buyers, sellers and renters.

He advises those with a luxury home to sell to make sure they locate a listing agent with in-depth knowledge of their local turf -- someone who has the capacity to price accurately and in accord with neighborhood market conditions.

“The last thing any homeowner should do is price too high. An overpriced house can linger on the market for a long time, making people wonder if there’s something wrong with it,” McLaughlin says.

Here are a few other pointers for luxury home sellers:

-- Don’t let hubris affect your pricing decisions.

If you're proud of your house and the luxury features it offers, you may be tempted to set your asking price higher than most of the homes in your immediate vicinity.

But Dorcas Helfant, a veteran real estate broker-owner, warns against doing so, lest you scare away price-conscious home shoppers.

“Your first step is to determine the current market value of homes with the same floor plan in your neighborhood. Then go no higher than the top of that price range,” says Helfant, a former president of the National Association of Realtors (www.realtor.org).

-- Select a listing agent skillful in creating strong visuals.

“Anyone who owns a home in model condition should be doubly sure it looks good in all its online advertising and marketing materials,” Helfant says.

As Helfant relates, a growing number of agents have become skillful users of digital photography and can now produce the kinds of pictures sellers need to appeal to prospects.

“Before buyers tour houses, they’ll go online and maybe also go to their agent’s real estate office to pre-screen photos of available listings on a wall-mounted monitor. If your house doesn’t show well in pictures, many buyers will simply decline to go see it,” Helfant says.

Before photos are taken, she says all sellers, including the owners of premium properties, should be attentive to the clutter in their rooms.

“Everything shows in photos. So you’ll want to remove every bit of clutter, including those decorative magnets on the refrigerator and the dish towels hanging over the oven,” Helfant says.

-- Consider a community-wide open-house event.

Many real estate agents downplay the value to sellers of open houses, saying they rarely attract serious buyers. But Helfant says there’s a way to maximize the impact of a public open house conducted for your premium property: encourage other sellers in the neighborhood to hold open houses ON the same day, thereby increasing your potential draw.

She suggests you ask your listing agent to call the other agents representing all the available listings in your neighborhood and try to coordinate your open houses.

“With more traffic, you have a better chance of drawing in serious buyers,” Helfant says.

According to Helfant, a neighborhood-wide open house event can be especially helpful to the sellers of a premium property, which will stand out in comparison with other available homes.

-- Remain steadfast on your selling plans.

Understandably, the owners of homes in showcase condition often have mixed feelings about letting go of a property they’ve babied through the years of their tenure. This is especially likely in hot neighborhoods where sellers figure they can afford to delay.

But before letting emotion cause you to back off from your selling schedule, it’s important to look at the big picture of your personal and financial plans to see if it would be in your interest to postpone your sale.

Tom Early, a past president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (www.naeba.org), says owners who plan to sell and then make a move-up purchase to a still costlier property may wish to accelerate their timing to avoid the potential for higher mortgage rates.

“We’ve been slumbering for a while with very comfortably low mortgage rates. But with a new administration in Washington ... you can never be sure what will happen with the economy and how that could translate to higher rates,” Early says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

Statistics on home-buying show a strong and enduring trend toward purchasers seeking more square footage, with three, if not more, bedrooms.

Why are more bedrooms such a hot ticket? Those who track buyer preferences say one major factor is the current popularity of an old-fashioned idea: different generations living under the same roof.

“Across all family types, we’re seeing more multi-generational living,” says Jessica Lautz, research director for the National Association of Realtors (www.realtor.org).

John Rygiol, a longtime real estate broker affiliated with the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (www.naeba.org) says that beside extended family needs, quality-of-life concerns are increasing demand for extra bedrooms.

“People want a ‘guest bedroom’ where a husband or wife can sleep if the other one snores. Also, many folks love an extra bedroom or two for their hobbies,” Rygiol says.

Is a home with four bedrooms affordable for many buyers? Surprisingly yes, says Jon Boyd, a real estate broker and former president of NAEBA.

As Boyd explains, home values are determined primarily by location, as well as square footage. And the square footage of many four-bedroom homes is often no greater than three-bedroom homes in the same neighborhood. Because of that, he says a fourth bedroom also doesn’t typically add much, if anything, to the home’s utility costs.

Even so, he says that having a fourth bedroom can significantly improve the resale potential of a property.

“Nowadays, a four-bedroom home will usually sell faster than a three-bedroom one in the same neighborhood,” Boyd says.

Here are a few pointers for buyers:

-- Look ahead to the future needs of your household.

Boyd, who heads his own independent real estate company, says it’s not unusual for young couples to fail to factor in family planning when choosing a home.

Maybe you’re expecting your first child in two or three years. In this case, he says that purchasing a place with a bedroom that could serve as a nursery is a better bet than changing houses after the baby arrives.

“Ideally, you’ll want to hold the house you buy now for a period of at least four or five years before you move again,” Boyd says.

Buyers with teenage children should also be aware they may need housing even beyond their date of graduation from college or grad school.

-- Realize that room-sharing can be a viable option for large families.

By the time they reach kindergarten, if not before, most children yearn for a bedroom of their own. Yet if your family is large or you hanker to convert at least one bedroom to a home office, it may not be possible to furnish each child with a private bedroom.

Still, Boyd says buyers needn’t worry if the house they purchase has too few bedrooms to meet their children’s wishes. He sees some benefits to room-sharing, especially for pre-adolescent children.

“My two daughters shared rooms until they were 12 or so. That way they learned to make compromises and to get along,” Boyd says.

-- Consider a first-floor master suite for an elder parent.

Boyd estimates that at least 20 percent of all homebuyers are “talking about an elder parent moving in with them at some point in the future.”

If this is a possibility in your case, he says you should consider buying a one-level, ranch-style home or a place with a first-floor suite, complete with a private bath.

Even if your parents can easily scale the stairs now, they might find it a lot harder later. Having easy access to a bedroom with a full bath can be especially important to those who are elderly or have a disability.

“Because of the aging population, a first-floor master suite can also be a plus for resale,” Boyd says.

-- Make certain that any room counted as a “bedroom” fits the definition.

Given the popularity of properties with plenty of bedrooms, Rygiol says it’s not unusual for home sellers to sometimes stretch the definition when counting their bedrooms.

On occasion, for example, some sellers will place an armoire and a bed in a small den or another spare room and then call it a “bedroom.” Or they’ll count a sitting room off a master suite as a “bedroom.” But Rygiol says homebuyers shouldn’t be fooled by these falsely named “bedrooms.”

“If the room doesn’t have its own built-in closet and a window or door for egress, it’s not a bedroom. The same goes for a room that can only be entered through another bedroom. Remember that neither one of these rooms should count as a true bedroom,” he says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)