Buying a home for the first time can be complex. To avoid mistakes and make a smart purchase, do the homework and know what to expect. To help start the process, HGTV’s FrontDoor.com identifies the top 10 important points every first-time buyer must know.

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The California Housing Finance Agency yesterday announced that they will be allocating up to $700 Million in a new Federal Program to help California’s neediest homeowners struggling with mortgages payments remain in their homes. This funding alone will not solve the significant problems in the housing market that California families face, but combined with other initiatives by state, local and federal governments as well as the private sector, this will contribute to stabilizing California’s housing market.

This follows an announcement by the Obama Administration that CalHFA is one of five state housing finance agencies slated to receive a total of $1.5 billion from the federal government’s Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. In addition to California, the funds will support efforts in Arizona, Florida, Michigan and Nevada. All five states have seen average home prices decline by 20 percent or more. Under the Obama administration’s plan, the funding can be used for innovative programs to assist unemployed homeowners, homeowners who owe significantly more than their homes are now worth and for those facing challenges associated with second mortgages. The programs will be available to homeowners, regardless of whether their mortgage was initially financed by CalHFA.

Suffolk Construction Company, a leading construction management firm will manage $8.3 million multi-story classroom building and infrastructure improvement project aiming for LEED Gold certification at the Palm Beach State College. The $8.3 million project will include construction of a new 36,000 square-foot multi-story building, the state-of-the-art teaching facility will create a dynamic teaching and learning environment for students by shifting the educational paradigm away from simply delivering content and toward engaging, empowering and connecting students nationwide. Palm Beach State College will be aiming for LEED Gold certification.

The school campus is located in a congested area with heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic patterns, so the Suffolk project team will need to have a comprehensive logistics plan in place to limit disruption to ongoing campus activities and minimize the displacement of existing parking capacity. The architect on the project is Song and Associates, and the designing of the project will begin in March 2010 and construction will begin later in 2010 with final completion of the building expected in Fall 2011.

Realtor Homes & Land, a provider of real estate media and marketing for over 37 years, recently launched Market Pulse. In February Homes & Land asked over one hundred thousand real estate agents to report their opinions about their local real estate market. The national, state, and county results are published in the Market Pulse Survey Report. Overall, optimism is improving with most agents reporting an increase in homebuyer interest. However, in states with the highest foreclosure rates, buying appears to be driven by distressed home sales.

When asked if President Obama’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) “has reduced the rate of foreclosures in your market,” only 10 percent of respondents said ‘yes’. Initial details about HAMP became available on March 4, 2009 with the promise of easing at-risk homeowners. The plan makes available $75 billion in funding for up to four million homeowners, providing a modified interest rate and three months of a probationary period.

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Only two months in to 2010, and one Tennessee company is beginning the year by winning a large contract overseas, while also projecting another significant growth year. Critical Mission Support Services (CMSS), a Maryville-based company specializing in providing governments and organizations around the world with mission critical services, was recently awarded a $10M contract with the Joint Contracting Command, Afghanistan. This contract serves as a vehicle to provide third country national or U.S. National personnel in support of the coalition efforts in Afghanistan.

With this most recent contract awarded, CMSS has already secured 25 percent of its total new business revenue goal for the entire year. As revenues grow, so to does the number of employees. By the end of 2010, CMSS expects to add 77 new staff employees to support its global operations.

Critical Mission Support Services (CMSS) is a global “turn-key” service provider dedicated to delivering world-class solutions to complex projects around the globe. The company offers a wide variety of services, including construction, life support, demining, logistics/procurement, security and IT communications.

Only a few weeks into the spring market, one Boston real estate firm is seeing tremendous success. Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty recorded 80 Under Agreements and over 100 sales transactions in January and February (source: MLS). The firm is ranked #5 in the state and has the #1 office in Boston’s Back Bay for 2010 sales-to-date. But their recent success is not just measured in sales figures. The firm has made some strategic moves over the last few years, making them the top-ranked Boston-based firm in the state. They expanded with office acquisitions in the Waterfront, Charlestown and Westwood areas.

All the improvements have attracted highly successful sales associates. Once again, Gibson Sotheby’s recognized Beth Dickerson as their top agent in 2009, having sold the highest volume of sales. Dickerson’s average sale price was more than $3 million last year and she recorded the most expensive sale in Boston, a condominium on Beacon Street in the Back Bay that sold for $9.25 million. Co-Owner, Paul McGann, meets regularly with agents who are considering the firm. “Most often, agents who join us are already successful – but they are looking to go to the next level; to grow their business.” It is that growth potential that brought agents like Tammy DeWolfe to the company. After years in the business, she joined Gibson Sotheby’s Westwood office last month, citing the company’s support as a major motivating factor.

The IDX, Inc. team is elated to announce its newest client addition Hope MacManus with Home Finders Real Estate Group, in joining the rapidly expanding network of real estate agents and brokers choosing to advance the search function of their real estate websites by incorporating a custom IDX solution.

The modernized and innovative Internet Data Exchange (IDX) software and its relationship with and association to local MLS systems, enables MacManus to display Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLS) listings, directly onto her website, saving home seekers the hassle of being redirected to different pages. They will be granted access to and endless amount of the most up-to-date property listing information on the Florence, Oregon real estate market.

This IDX Broker addition gives MacManus the opportunity to develop a truly custom and personalized online real estate business, with the ability to decipher which search options will be displayed on her site, in which she has chosen a basic search, an advanced search, a map search, an address search and a listing ID search. Each of these categories provide their own unique and distinctive traits, aiding prospective home buyers to narrow their search results, in efforts to find their ideal property. Also, each listings page supplies convenient and user-friendly links to email property details, contact the listing agent for more information, schedule a showing, view large photo galleries, print a flyer, take a virtual tour, calculate probable mortgage payments and even pinpoint their chosen property on a interactive Google Map, creating a nearly effortless online real estate search experience.

This is a bit out of the Real Estate Tips Niche, but it is a service targeted at Homeowners. Nations Power today announced that it is providing pre-paid and real-time pricing for electricity to customers in Texas. The company will be using a Our one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art software which was exclusively developed for the company by SmartGridCIS and designed specifically for use with smart meters. According to the company, this is ideal for Homeowners who are having problems paying for high up-front deposits or high pre-payments with other electric providers.

This allows Nations Power to deliver electricity to customers who are having problems paying for high up-front deposits or high pre-payments with other electric providers. Nations Power is the first electric provider to implement pre-pay with real-time pricing anywhere in the U.S. Its pre-paid and real-time pricing products can utilize the nearly 1,000,000 advanced smart meters currently installed in Texas. The billing solution allows customers to pre-pay for power on a daily basis versus the traditional monthly post-paid or month-ahead estimated pre-paid methods. Plans are for nearly 6 million customers to have smart meters in Texas by 2013.

To pay for power, customers can access the Nations Power website and pay with a Mastercard or Visa debit card, or go to one of its 110,000 payment centers including Wal-Mart, CVS/pharmacy, and MoneyGram locations.