Whether you’re buying a home for the first time or you’ve decided it’s about time that you upgraded to a larger, more expansive house, if you’re making a real estate purchase you’ll need to be aware of how much you can reasonably afford to borrow in a mortgage. In today’s post we’ll take a look at a few ways that you can analyze your financial situation to help decide how much mortgage you can truly afford.
Prepare An Honest Monthly Budget
The first step in understanding how much of a monthly payment you can afford is to create an honest monthly budget which includes all of your family’s income and spending. Although you won’t have to pay them every month, it’s also important that you include costs that show up irregularly like car repairs, Christmas gifts or tuition bills as these still need to be paid. The more information you can place in your budget, the more accurate your financial picture will be.
Your Down Payment Plays A Huge Role
As you might imagine, the amount you can invest in your down payment plays a significant role in how much mortgage financing you will need. Every dollar that you can place in your down payment today is one less dollar that you’ll need t