Home Buying - What Can You Afford?
By Raynor James, Fri Dec 9th

Okay, you've decided to buy a home and are trying to figure outwhat you can afford. Before you go home buying, you need tocarefully consider what you can afford as far as a mortgagepayment.

Mortgage Payments

The first step you should take in determining what you canafford is to talk to a mortgage lender. In fact, the best stepyou can take is to go through the loan process to the extentrequired to get a pre-qualification letter. A pre-qualificationletter tells you and a seller how

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big of a home loan the lenderwill give you.

So, once you have the loan in hand, that must be the amount youcan afford? The answer is maybe or maybe not. Theprequalification letter is based on a number of factors such asyour earnings and credit. It is not based on a picture of yourlife, which can lead to problems.

Other Expenses

There is nothing worse than buying a home and straining to makethe monthly mortgage payments. This situation occurs when ahomebuyer relies solely on the pre-qualification letter or theirown wishful thinking. You may have purchased your dream home,but don't let the payments be a nightmare.

In determining how much you can afford to expend on a homepurchase, you must consider your overall financial situation.Although you may be in a decent financial situation at themoment, do you have future expenses that will put pressure onyour finances? Such situations might include:

1. Planning to have kids in the next year or so?

2. Are your current children going to college soon?

3. If you own a business, is the financial outlook stable?

4. If you work for a company, are you reasonably sure thecompany is headed in the right direction?

5. Do you have any concerns regarding the dreaded downsizing?

6. If you are the sole bread winner, what would happen if youwere unable to work for a few months because of health issues?

These general questions are intended to wake you up to thepossibility of over extending yourself on a mortgage. Everysituation is different, so make sure you take a careful look atyour life to make sure you are committing to a loan you canafford now and in the future.

About the author:Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - providing FSBOhomes For Sale By Owner. Visit our "sell my home" page athttp://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to list and sell your homefor free for one month. Visithttp://www.fsboamerica.org/buyer.cfm to see homes for sale byowner.

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