BELOIT — For 30-year-old first-time homebuyer Tom Cook of Beloit, the market and his personal life have aligned to make this the perfect time to buy a house.

“It's a good market,” Cook said last week, while looking at a house on Lilac Road in Beloit.

Relatives advised him to wait another six months to buy, but with prices already low, the new father doesn’t want to wait.

“I kind of really want to get into something now,” he said. “I have a baby, and I want a yard for my dog.”

According to real estate agent Rosemary Dutter of Coldwell Banker Premier Borts in Beloit, first-time buyers like Cook will find a market that suits them.

“There’s quite a choice of homes out there,” Dutter said. “If they’re pre-approved buyers, they’re golden.”

Linda Kirk, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Premier in Roscoe, agrees. In addition, she said, first-time homebuyers are not dependent on selling their own home before making a purchase.

“People in that situation have a lot of buying power and a lot of houses to choose from,” Kirk said. “It’s definitely a good situation.”

Dutter cautions first-time buyers to make sure they have their finances in order before they get ready to buy, however.

“They should make sure that before they go house shopping they go lender shopping and realtor shopping,” she said.

Most first-time home buyers recognize they’re taking an important first step toward long-term financial security.

“Home ownership is historically the No. 1 wealth generator in our country,” said John Ramstad, director of housing for Community Action of Rock and Walworth Counties.

But, Ramstad added, potential buyers should beware that what appears to be a good deal actually may be a pratfall.

“The only caution is for people to be careful about buying properties that look awfully cheap on paper, but are such because there is significant work that is required or significant infrastructure improvements that need to happen,” he said. “It’s the long-term affordability of the house that’s the most important.”

Taking a homeownership class may help potential buyers see the big picture.

“It’s a good way to assess how ready you are to take on that responsibility, since they go over all sorts of aspects of how to buy a home,” Ramstad said. “If you haven’t owned a home or it’s been a while, it’s a very valuable course and a chance to think through a lot of the factors you should be considering before you make that commitment.”

Anyone in the market for a new home — not just first-time buyers and those with shaky credit histories — is under far greater scrutiny by mortgage lenders than they may have been a few years ago.

Because of the so-called “credit crunch” — caused by lenders who doled out subprime loans to people who might not qualify for traditional mortgages, then went belly-up when those loans went into foreclosure — more buyers are using government-sponsored loans, like those through the Federal Housing Administration or the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“There’s a lot of hope right now for FHA, because that’s the only place where you have any sort of high loan-to-value product still available,” said Yuri Rashkin, owner of Service First Mortgage in Janesville. “Now, everybody starts with FHA. It used to be a very underutilized product — now it’s the first step.”

That sea change has some worried.

“I think that it’s just unsustainable,” Rashkin said. “We can’t be relying on government programs if we are to continue to be a (consumer-based) economy where people buy and sell houses. There just has to be some more flexibility in the system.”

The upside of the credit crunch is that homebuyers now must live within their means.

“They should figure out pretty precisely what they’re able to spend for a home,” including property taxes and insurance, Rashkin said, “and be realistic.”

That’s exactly what Ryan and Rianne Graves did before buying in Darien. Even though they were approved for a larger mortgage, they opted for one they regard as more affordable.

“We weren’t comfortable with that financially,” Ryan Graves said. “As far as first-time homebuyer advice is concerned, staying in your comfort zone is your best bet.”

The couple spent nearly a year looking at available properties.

“We got excited at the potential of the houses we could have,” Ryan Graves said. “From there, it became kind of a fun adventure, getting the opportunity to look at these houses.”

Such excitement, Dutter said, makes her job worthwhile.

“It’s really exciting — they’re so thrilled,” she said of first-time homebuyers. “They beam through the entire closing.”