Russ Smith

Anybody know of a good site for a calculator of how much home loan you can afford?

I tried the one at my bank's site(Washington Mutual) but I kind of doubt I'm going to find a home in Cupertino, CA for 83,000 and for some reason the monthly payment it kicked out is less than a 3rd of what I figure my monthly ceiling is(roughly 2K).

Basically just trying to find out what the max I can afford is to see if buying a home is a reasonable idea at the moment or not. My landlord gave us notice on the place we rent so before I just get into another lease I figured I ought to at least do the homework on buying.

__________________
“Your expectations always exceed outside expectations. I feel like you just can’t stop working, can’t stop getting better, because I’ll be a failure in my eyes before I’m a failure in someone else’s eyes.” -- Arron Afflalo

dreamcastrocks

Don't they say 2.5 times your salary is a good indicator?

__________________
'Just to reiterate, Derek Anderson isn't hurt.... he has just been benched.'
-Sam Rosen

abomb

There are some better debt ratio stuff, but I am away from my desk right now.

Pariah

Try bankrate.com

They have all sorts of financial calculators.

Divide Et Impera

A rough, and somewhat high (if good credit), average is about $7 per $1000. So, if you get a $200,000 loan, your PITI will likely less than $1400 per month. If you say you can afford $2000 per month, you are probably looking at about $300,000 in loans. That is the amount of the loan you can likely afford, not the purchase price of the house. If you buy a $300,000 home and finance 100%, you'll be right at that $2100 per month mortgage. However, if you buy a $350,000 home and you put down $50,000, your mortgage will be a bit lower than $2100 because Loan-To-Value affects the rate you pay....

__________________
Quintus: People should know when they are conquered.

Maximus: Would you, Quintus? Would I?

Divide Et Impera

BTW - All you need to worry about is what you know you can afford personally. Don't get yourself concerned with ratios and such. There are loan programs out there for basically everyone and as long as you can cover it, you can get it done. I personally always go Stated-Stated on my loans. I don't do it because I want to lie and get more than I can afford, I would just rather pay the extra rate and not get scrutinized by 100 different underwriters who always want a bit more than they said that they would want. If you have decent credit, a 2 year job history and verification of rent (VOR that is acceptable per bank terms, not just a letter from your cousin who is your landlord, for example), you can get that loan....

__________________
Quintus: People should know when they are conquered.

Maximus: Would you, Quintus? Would I?

Russ Smith

Thanks, my salary and my girlfriends combined is the key. I personally think our ceiling is closer to 2500 than 2000 but she's very afraid of risk so I'm being conservative.

So far it appears I was correct in assuming we can't really afford anything in this area which is not a huge surprise. My downpayment would likely be on the order of 10K allowable for first time homeowner from 401K so to get to a reasonable downpayment I'd have to borrow from family which I really don't want to do.

I'd like to buy but I know my girlfriend and I kind of figured allowing for her tolerance of risk we were going to be out of luck.

__________________
“Your expectations always exceed outside expectations. I feel like you just can’t stop working, can’t stop getting better, because I’ll be a failure in my eyes before I’m a failure in someone else’s eyes.” -- Arron Afflalo

Divide Et Impera

If you can't put 5% down, don't put anything down. It won't effect your rate at all if you put $10,000 down on a $300,000 home (3.33%). If your rate is 6.75% at 100% financed, it'll be 6.75% with 96.67% financed. Also, a good tip for you would be to request 3% seller contribution when you are ready to write an offer on a home. In a buyer's market, a seller will jump at that. That 3% immediately goes towards your closing costs, which should only be about $4,000 or so. The remaining $5,000 can be used to buy your rate down and you still get to keep your $10,000 on hand for unexpected purchases when you move in. That's a really solid tip, so I would highly suggest using that....

__________________
Quintus: People should know when they are conquered.

Maximus: Would you, Quintus? Would I?

Russ Smith

Sorry novice questions. Can you use the 10K from a 401k for anything other than a downpayment on a house? I thought the rule was you can do that with no penalty but only if it's for a downpayment on a house.

300,000 won't buy a thing where i live so I'm pretty certain I'm out of luck. I did just realize my ex girlfriend's fiance does this stuff(loans etc) for a living so she's going to have him help me out but my guess is I'm going to be renting another place.

Thanks.

__________________
“Your expectations always exceed outside expectations. I feel like you just can’t stop working, can’t stop getting better, because I’ll be a failure in my eyes before I’m a failure in someone else’s eyes.” -- Arron Afflalo

Divide Et Impera

Well, like I said, if your credit is good (680+), that $7 per $1000 is pretty high. Someone with good credit can get about $6.50 per $1000 PITI, so you could theoretically get to about $400,000 for $2600 per month depending on loan program and credit. The more you provide to the lender (ie, prove income, assets, et al), the lower your rate is. You can also get into Interest Only programs. Some IO programs are on a 30 year fixed rate with a 10 year line of IO. That's an EXCELLENT program. Here's a better idea: Move to AZ where you can get 4000 square feet for $400,000!!!

__________________
Quintus: People should know when they are conquered.

Maximus: Would you, Quintus? Would I?

DeAnna

LoL, that was gonna be my suggestion! Or, maybe a condo instead of a single family home?

__________________
AZ Cards 2013: Where Old Geezer Coaches Come to Retire.

Divide Et Impera

Condos result in a slightly higher interest rate, but that certainly is an idea....

__________________
Quintus: People should know when they are conquered.

Maximus: Would you, Quintus? Would I?

Brian in Mesa

Mortgage calculator

Russ Smith

Condos where I live aren't affordable either. They're in the 500+ range.

Clearly my girlfriend needs to get a 2nd job.

__________________
“Your expectations always exceed outside expectations. I feel like you just can’t stop working, can’t stop getting better, because I’ll be a failure in my eyes before I’m a failure in someone else’s eyes.” -- Arron Afflalo

DeAnna

Then you definately need to move out of Calif!! Then she won't have to work at all.

__________________
AZ Cards 2013: Where Old Geezer Coaches Come to Retire.