Snidely_Shanksplat
Newbie

Posts: 1
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« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2008, 08:41:00 AM » |
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Too many variables to say for sure.
How much are you going to put down? For a conventional loan, lenders generally want to see 20% and you'll need at least that much to avoid Private Mortgage Insurance.
What interest rate can you qualify for? If you have excellent credit and a solid work history -- 3 to 5 years of steady employment and 6 to 12 months at your current job if you've switched careers -- rates are at nearly historic lows and are still dropping. I've been quoted as low as 5.25% for a 30-year fixed this week and have a 780 FICO.
How much is the homeowners insurance going to cost you? That can be affected by the type of construction, location, neighborhood, etc. but typically runs between .5% and 2% of the cost to rebuild.
Let's say that you have 20% for a down payment and can get a 5.75% mortgage. You'll need $46,000 for the down payment and about $8,000 for closing costs. Your payments will work out as follows:
Principal & Interest: $1,073.77 Homeowners Insurance: $191.66 (using 1% of $230k to rebuild) Property taxes: $191.66 (1% of value under Prop 13) HOA: $190.00
Total first year payments: $1,647.09
Under the 27% rule for housing costs, you'll need gross income of about $6,100 to qualify for the best rates. That could be higher if your total debt service ratio is greater than 35% of your gross income, so if your other debt (credit cards, car loan, etc. is more than $488 per month you'll need more income to qualify.
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