Is It Time To Buy A House? At some point as you're writing out your rent check, you get to the point where you look at the amount and think to yourself - at this rate, I could BUY a house. If you're fed up with paying rent every month that's high enough to finance a mortgage, it may be time to take a serious look at what it would take for you to get a mortgage loan and buy a home of your own. How do you know if it's time to stop renting and time to start investing your monthly payment in a house of your own? 1. Are you planning to stay put in the area? The first question to ask yourself is how long you are planning to stay in your new home. If the answer is 'less than two years', then it may be to your advantage to continue renting for a while longer - and use the time to build up your credit more strongly. If, on the other hand, you're planning to stay in one residence for more than a few years, buying makes more sense. Owning a home puts down roots, and makes you a more stable member of the community. It also makes more financial sense to buy if you're going to hold onto the property for more than two years. Unless you 'flip' properties - buy cheap, make repairs and sell high - it's nearly impossible to recover your investment if you own a house for less than two years. 2. How's your credit? If you've never checked your credit score or read your credit report, this is the time to do it. The higher your credit score, the easier it will be for you to qualify for a mortgage, and the better the terms of the mortgage for which you'll qualify. If you find problems in your credit score, you can take steps to fix them before you apply for a mortgage. This includes erroneous information on your credit report or extenuating circumstances that may have led to a missed payment or two. In many cases, minor credit problems can be repaired with no more than a few months of on-time payments. 3. How much house can you afford? Figuring out how much of a mortgage you can take on can seem almost like some sort of voodoo. You know how much you can afford to pay per month for a mortgage payment - but how does that translate into how much you can afford to pay for a house? The easiest way to work it out is to use an online mortgage calculator. Many web sites that offer credit and loan information have mortgage calculators available that will work in either direction - plug in the asking price of a house and your expected interest rate and the amount of your down payment, and the calculator will tell you an estimated monthly payment. Or plug in your income and expenses, the amount of the monthly payment you can make and the length of time you want to repay it - and the calculator will tell you the most expensive house you can comfortably buy. Posted by Duncan Manning on December 13, 2008 at 12:00 AM About Duncan Manning Duncan Manning is affliated with listing & marketing Associates, which is located in San Antonio, TX. For further assistance please use the contact information located on the right. As of 05/25/12 the Duncan Manning RePage is ranked at 1,550 with 515 points.

Local Information for San Antonio, TX

Latitude: 29.451532 -- Longitude: -98.512682

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ZIP Codes for San Antonio, Texas	78201  78202  78203  78204  78205  78206  78207  78208  78209  78210  78211  78212  78213  78214  78215  78216  78217  78218  78219  78220  78221  78222  78223  78224  78225  78226  78227  78228  78229  78230  78231  78232  78233  78234  78235  78236  78237  78238  78239  78240  78241  78242  78243  78244  78245  78246  78247  78248  78249  78250  78251  78252  78253  78254  78255  78256  78257  78258  78259  78260  78261  78262  78263  78264  78265  78266  78268  78269  78270  78275  78278  78279  78280  78283  78284  78285  78286  78287  78288  78289  78291  78292  78293  78294  78295  78296  78297  78298  78299
Area Code for San Antonio, Texas	210
Time zone for San Antonio, Texas	CST

Other Area Cities:   San Antonio, TX  Helotes, TX  Leon Valley, TX  Terrell Hills, TX  Converse, TX  Schertz, TX  Bulverde, TX  Cibolo, TX  Live Oak, TX 

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San Antonio is the second-most populous city in the state of Texas and seventh-most populated in the United States. As of the 2005 U.S. Census estimate, the city had a population of over 1.2 million. Its eight-county metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, the twenty-ninth most-populated metro area in the United States. San Antonio, which is the county seat of Bexar County, covers over 400 square miles on the northern edge of the South Texas region and southeast of the Texas Hill Country. San Antonio was named for the Portuguese Saint Anthony of Padua, whose feast day it was when a Spanish expedition stopped in the area in 1691. The city has a strong military presence—it is home to Fort Sam Houston, Lackland Air Force Base, Randolph Air Force Base, and Brooks City Base. San Antonio is home to the South Texas Medical Center, the largest and only medical research and care provider in the South Texas region. -- Source: Wikipedia.com