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 Marlene Peeler on December 13, 2008 at 12:00 AM

About Marlene Peeler
Marlene Peeler is affliated with Prudential Carolinas Realty, which is located in Shelby, NC. For further assistance please use the contact information located on the right.

As of 05/23/12 the Marlene Peeler RePage is ranked at 3,791 with 415 points.

Local Information for Shelby, NC

Latitude: 35.288272 -- Longitude: -81.537787

ZIP Codes for Shelby, North Carolina	28150 28151 28152
Area Code for Shelby, North Carolina	704
Time zone for Shelby, North Carolina	EST

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As of the census of 2000, there were 19,477 people, 7,927 households, and 5,144 families residing in the city. The population density was 414.6/km² (1,073.8/mi²). There were 8,853 housing units at an average density of 188.4/km² (488.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 56.88% White, 40.97% African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.56% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.72% from other races, and 0.76% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.56% of the population. There were 7,927 households out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.3% were married couples living together, 20.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.1% were non-families. 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.97. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

North Carolina 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Shelby	North Carolina	United States
Population	19,477	8,049,313	281,421,906
Median age	38.9	35.3	35.3
Median age for Male	35.7	33.8	34
Median age for Female	41.7	36.7	36.5
Households	7,927	3,132,013	105,480,101
Household population	18,779	7,795,432	273,643,273
Average household size	2.37	2.49	2.59
Families	5,145	2,158,869	71,787,347
Average family size	2.97	2.98	3.14
Housing units	8,853	3,523,944	115,904,641
Occupied units	7,927	3,132,013	105,480,101
Vacant units	926	391,931	10,424,540

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Figuring Out Whether You Can Afford That Home

Local Information for Shelby, NC

Latitude: 35.288272 -- Longitude: -81.537787

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