How Much Mortgage Can I Afford When Buying a Phoenix Home?
How much mortgage can I afford is one of the first questions you should be asking yourself when you’re thinking about buying a home in a historic Phoenix district, or anywhere, for that matter.
The amount you can spend depends on how much cash you have to use for a down payment, and, how much you can borrow.
Be Smart With Your Money
You should be very, very smart with your money, especially if you’re a Phoenix, AZ first-time homebuyer. Let us hold your hand during the entire process from beginning to end.
Getting Pre-Qualified For A Phoenix Home Loan
A mortgage lender can pre-qualify you for a loan, which essentially means the lender will ask you a few questions. These questions will be about your income, credit profile and debt. Then they’ll give you an estimate of what you can borrow based on those facts. They’ll help you figure out your monthly mortgage payment.
Getting Pre-Approved For A Home Loan
However, before you begin looking for a home, you must get a full loan pre-approval from a lender based on verification of your credit and income, because that will give you a more accurate idea of how much you can borrow. There is a difference between getting pre-approved versus getting pre-qualified.
Find Your Own Comfortable Payment For Your New Phoenix Home Purchase
When buying a Phoenix home, you’ll have to have your home loan pre-approval ready to go. But, before you meet with a lender, though, it’s a good idea to evaluate your personal financial situation and come up with a monthly payment range that you can comfortably afford.
Why is This Important?
There’s a reason it’s important to do this on your own. It’s because you may have expenses or financial goals to meet that the lender won’t take into consideration when approving you for a loan.
Like to Golf? Travel?
For example, if your greatest pleasure is to play golf several times per month or to do a little travelling, or if you’re actively saving money to start a family and hope to have one spouse reduce work hours when that happens, your housing budget should take those factors into account.
Using Your Financial Comfort Level
You can use your current comfort level with your rent payment. Then, look at your monthly income and expenses to estimate your own ideal mortgage payment. Don’t forget that when you become a homeowner, your housing payment will include principal and interest, property taxes and homeowners insurance.
Putting Less than 20% Down Payment
If your down payment is less than 20%, you’ll need to pay mortgage insurance. You should budget at least 1% of the home price for maintenance and repairs. In addition, you may need to pay homeowner association or condominium association dues.
Mortgage Loan Qualifications For Buying Phoenix Real Estate
Lenders have different guidelines that they follow in order to qualify you for a mortgage loan. Most will only allow a maximum debt-to-income ratio of 41% to 43%. To calculate your ratio, determine your gross monthly income including all income that can be documented through pay-stubs or your tax return.
Your Monthly Debt Payments
Your monthly debt payments will include your new housing payment and the minimum monthly payment on all your outstanding debt. Such as, credit cards, student loan, a car loan, alimony, child support or a personal loan. You can use a mortgage calculator to help you with your estimation.
What a Mortgage Lender Will Look at to Pre-Approve You For “How Much Mortgage Can I Can Afford”
In order to qualify you for a loan and determine your interest rate, you have to get pre-approved for a home loan. This will help you figure out how much you can afford in a monthly payment.
A mortgage lender will look at a variety of factors. This includes your income, assets, down payment, credit score, debts and job history. The higher your credit score, the lower your interest rate will be for conventional loans, which in turn means your payment will be lower.
Mortgage Loan Options When Buying a Phoenix Home
There are many mortgage loan options when buying a Phoenix home. Remember that the actual size of your mortgage payment will depend on your loan term and interest rate. In general, a longer loan term will have lower payments. But, it will usually have a higher interest rate. This means you’ll pay more in interest over time because of the term.
Finding a Good Mortgage Lender to Figure Out “How Much Mortgage Can I Afford”
While it’s important for you to get an idea of your own comfort level with a loan payment, a good lender can evaluate your individual circumstances. Then, they’ll make recommendations for a loan program that can meet your financial needs.
A good lender can also give you advice that can help you position yourself for a smart home purchase. Such as, ways to improve your credit or to build up the size of your down payment so you can take out a smaller loan and become a homeowner.
Whether you’re buying or selling in Central or Downtown Phoenix, or just have some questions about anything at all in or about any one of the historic districts in Phoenix, I’d be very happy to help you! Just call or email me anytime.