Home Buying ? What Can You Afford?

Okay, you?ve decided to buy a home and are trying to figure out what you can afford. Before you go home buying, you need to carefully consider what you can afford as far as a mortgage payment.

Mortgage Payments

The first step you should take in determining what you can afford is to talk to a mortgage lender. In fact, the best step you can take is to go through the loan process to the extent required to get a pre-qualification letter. A pre-qualification letter tells you and a seller how big of a home loan the lender will give you.

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

Other Expenses

There is nothing worse than buying a home and straining to make the monthly mortgage payments. This situation occurs when a homebuyer relies solely on the pre-qualification letter or their own 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 home purchase, you must consider your overall financial situation. Although you may be in a decent financial situation at the moment, do you have future expenses that will put pressure on your 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 the company 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 you were unable to work for a few months because of health issues?

These general questions are intended to wake you up to the possibility of over extending yourself on a mortgage. Every situation is different, so make sure you take a careful look at your life to make sure you are committing to a loan you can afford now and in the future.

Posted by Kathy Schlessman on December 13, 2008 at 12:00 AM

About Kathy Schlessman
Kathy Schlessman is affliated with JohnHalter Realty Better Homes & Garden, which is located in Huron, OH. For further assistance please use the contact information located on the right.

As of 05/24/12 the Kathy Schlessman RePage is ranked at 7,148 with 360 points.

Local Information for Huron, OH

Latitude: 41.399669 -- Longitude: -82.564974

ZIP Codes for Huron, Ohio	44839
Area Code for Huron, Ohio	419
Time zone for Huron, Ohio	EST

Other Area Cities: Huron, OH Sandusky, OH Vermilion, OH

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Huron is a city in Erie County, Ohio, United States. The population was 7,958 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Sandusky, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area. BGSU Firelands, a branch campus of Bowling Green State University, is located just west of the city limits. A separate college of the Bowling Green State University system, BGSU Firelands has been a regional campus of BGSU since 1968. Over 2,000 students in 2006 were enrolled for a wide array of associate, bachelors and graduate degree programs. On July 18, 2006, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources announced the purchase of the ConAgra Foods facility in Huron. Concurrently, ConAgra Foods announced the closure of the grain elevator. The 19.8-acre parcel, containing Huron's largest building, is a key piece of Huron’s waterfront. Huron City Schools sports teams are known as the Tigers. The Tigers have recorded numerous athletic successes for both boys and girls. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Ohio 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Huron	Ohio	United States
Population	7,958	11,353,140	281,421,906
Median age	39.3	36.2	35.3
Median age for Male	38.4	34.9	34
Median age for Female	40.1	37.5	36.5
Households	3,315	4,445,773	105,480,101
Household population	7,872	11,054,019	273,643,273
Average household size	2.37	2.49	2.59
Families	2,260	2,993,023	71,787,347
Average family size	2.92	3.04	3.14
Housing units	3,832	4,783,051	115,904,641
Occupied units	3,315	4,445,773	105,480,101
Vacant units	517	337,278	10,424,540

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Home Buying ? What Can You Afford?

Local Information for Huron, OH

Latitude: 41.399669 -- Longitude: -82.564974

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