One of the first things I ask someone when they tell me they are looking for a home is " What are you comfortable paying a month for a house?" This to me is the most vital question you can ask a prospective home buyer. Chances are there are homes that will fit their budget in regrds to the amount of bedrooms and bathrooms adn square footage they want... but by letting them tell you they want a house around X amount of dollars may not be what they think.
Most of the websites that we go on to get an idea of a monthly mortgage payment give a basic payment. By basic I mean with principal and interest only. If you are going the route of FHA; you have the additional premium of the FHA added onto the loan amount. In addition you would have to factor in your homeowners insurance and your property taxes.
To give you an idea. a $200,000 loan just principal and interest would be $1075.00 a month at 5% interest rate. Add in the cost of the FHA premium and the payment goes up to $1196.00 a month. Factor in average taxes for Charlotte and that house would be another $135.00 a month. Then you have homeowners insurance which would average about $50.00 a month.
So, now you are looking at $200,000 homes thinking you are going to be somewhere around $1100.00 a month. When in actuality you are going to be closer to $1400.00 a month.
That is a difference of $300.00 a month. It is a large sum of money. So, if you are looking for a home tell your Realtor what you can afford or desire for a monthly payment. They should be asking you what you want to pay a month instead of what price you want to pay....We can back into a home price range based on monthly payment...
Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com
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