Moving expenses, storage fees, if needed
Mortgage - the mortgage company will usually combine your taxes, and insurance into the monthly mortgage and establish an escrow account to make the tax and insurance payments from your escrow accounts.
Property Taxes, which go up nearly every year
Insurance on property - which is increased nearly every year
School Taxes - which go up nearly every year
PMI (mortgage insurance premium) additional cost if you are usually putting down less than 20% downpayment.
Yard work - $50-100 month if you do it yourself, more if you have alot of lawn care or need to hire someone
House Maintenance - - average 1 % of the value of your home every year in maintenance.
Utilities: Electric, Water, Gas, Oil, Sewer fees, Garbage/Trash removal, Cable, Phone - these fees usually will go up and depending where you live some months might be double other months utilities costs
if you get a condo, you will have condo fees, and condo assessment fees when there are larger upgrade maintenance projects.
Some cities require a certificate of occupancy and a city inspector to certify your property, Some require flood insurance coverage if your property is in a possible flood zone.
When qualifying for the mortgage any average monthly payments on car loans or credit cards will be taken into account for how much house you can afford. You can get pre-qualified for a mortgage which will help speed the process and make it easier to negotiate when you make an offer on a property. When getting pre-qualified or getting your loan, the mortgage company should provide a mortgage disclosure document on what costs to expect - you may need a bit more than this but it should usually be pretty close to actual.
Costs to buy a home vary by the type of mortgage and your location, but typically you will pay a real estate transfer tax, title fees to make sure there are no liens on the property, portion of the realestate fees, down payment, a mortgage loan fee for processing costs, fees for any legal property document copying costs, inspection costs that you do in advance to identify any issues, appraisal fee that the mortgage company charges to ensure the property's worth, closing fees and possible % loan points from the mortgage company.
The realtor will usually need $500 to $1000 as good faith when you make the offer to purchase, which will go toward the closing costs and down payment, and then you need to provide the down payment at the closing when you transfer the property, and many of the other costs you can have rolled into your loan. .
\there are tons of websites with info and books at the library available. The best thing to do to get educated is to start going to some open houses in your area and talk to the realtors at the open house about properties available and what are typical costs in your area. Alot of times if any repairs or inspections are needed, the realtor knows alot of people and can provide good referrals for handymen, appraisals, home inspection, title companies.