Figuring Out Whether You Can Afford That Home

House hunting can be a brutal affair, particularly if you don?t know what you can afford before hand. No your price range in advance and you can avoid looking at really nice homes you?ll never get. .

Mortgage ? Monthly Payments

The biggest costs associated with owning a home is the mortgage. Unless you are filthy rich, you are committing to apportioning a significant amount of your monthly income to that dream home. In evaluating whether you can afford the mortgage, you need to consider the difference between the mortgage payment and what you are currently paying.

If it is a significant step up, will you be able to pay it now and in a few years? Under no condition should you assume you will be making more money in the future. Base everything on what you are making now.

When considering monthly mortgage payments, you also need to factor in the type of mortgage. Interest rates have been at historical lows for some time, but are starting to creep up. If you are taking the plunge on an adjustable mortgage, will you be able to make the payments if the interest rates increase over the next few years? In coming to a conclusion on this, you should assume the rates going up to the caps indicated in the mortgage for the relevant period of time. Again, you don?t want to get stuck in a financial bind because you let your eyes overrule you brains when selecting a home.

Other Expenses

The pride of homeownership comes with a few extra costs. In gauging affordability, many homebuyers fail to take into account the twin evils of property taxes and homeowner?s insurance. The expenses associated with each of these necessary items can be surprisingly high. In some states, property taxes can be an ugly surprise the first year of homeownership. Much like taxes, they are collected in a lump sum and can be thousands of dollars. If you fail to plan for them, your finances can become unbelievably strained.

Buying a home is absolutely the best move you can make if you?re renting. Just make sure you can meet those payments without losing sleep.

Posted by Dan Lind on December 13, 2008 at 12:00 AM

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Local Information for Atlanta, GA

Latitude: 33.759506 -- Longitude: -84.403176

ZIP Codes for Atlanta, Georgia	30301 30302 30303 30304 30305 30306 30307 30308 30309 30310 30311 30312 30313 30314 30315 30316 30317 30318 30319 30320 30321 30322 30324 30325 30326 30327 30328 30329 30330 30331 30332 30333 30334 30336 30337 30338 30339 30340 30341 30342 30343 30344 30345 30346 30347 30348 30349 30350 30353 30354 30355 30356 30357 30358 30359 30360 30361 30362 30363 30364 30366 30368 30369 30370 30371 30374 30375 30376 30377 30378 30379 30380 30384 30385 30386 30387 30388 30389 30390 30392 30394 30396 30398 30399 31106 31107 31119 31126 31131 31132 31139 31141 31145 31146 31150 31156 31191 31192 31193 31195 31196 31197 31198 31199 39901
Area Code for Atlanta, Georgia	404
Time zone for Atlanta, Georgia	EST

Other Area Cities: Jonesboro, GA Atlanta, GA Decatur, GA Riverdale, GA Stone Mountain, GA Tucker, GA Belvedere Park, GA Brookhaven, GA Chamblee, GA College Park, GA Doraville, GA Druid Hills, GA East Point, GA Gresham Park, GA Roswell, GA Sandy Springs, GA Scottdale, GA Mableton, GA North Decatur, GA Smyrna, GA North Atlanta, GA Lithonia, GA Marietta, GA Conyers, GA

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Atlanta is the capital and most populous city of the state of Georgia, and the central city of ninth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. One of seven American cities classified as Gamma world cities, Atlanta ranks third in the in number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered in its metropolitan area. Its airport – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – is the world's busiest, both in terms of passenger traffic and landings and takeoffs. The city's northern section, Buckhead, is consistently ranked by the Robb Report as one of the most affluent communities in the United States, comparable to Los Angeles' Bel-Air and Manhattan's Upper East Side. Atlanta features the world's largest aquarium, the Georgia Aquarium. The aquarium features over 100,000 specimens in tanks holding approximately eight million gallons of water. One unique museum is the World of Coca-Cola featuring the history of the world famous soft drink brand and its well-known advertising. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Georgia 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Atlanta	Georgia	United States
Population	416,474	8,186,453	281,421,906
Median age	31.9	33.4	35.3
Median age for Male	31.2	32.1	34
Median age for Female	32.9	34.6	36.5
Households	168,147	3,006,369	105,480,101
Household population	387,527	7,952,631	273,643,273
Average household size	2.3	2.65	2.59
Families	83,182	2,111,647	71,787,347
Average family size	3.16	3.14	3.14
Housing units	186,925	3,281,737	115,904,641
Occupied units	168,147	3,006,369	105,480,101
Vacant units	18,778	275,368	10,424,540

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Figuring Out Whether You Can Afford That Home

Local Information for Atlanta, GA

Latitude: 33.759506 -- Longitude: -84.403176

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