How much house can you afford?
October 25, 2009 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under financial matters
Unless you want to be a renter for life – which note, is a viable option, you may want to know how to figure out how much actual home you can afford. Nowadays it’s much easier to get a realistic housing budget from a bank. In the past banks would loan out what you could afford sure, but that amount was usually far over what you should pay or could live with. Now, with the economy as it is, banks will give you more realistic figures to deal with.
That said, you don’t have to head to a bank. If you’re just curious – i.e. in the very early stages of home buying, Business Week just posted two excellent and easy online tools you can use to sort out how much home you can afford. If you don’t want to use online tools you can check out the following resources (best for folks who like making lists and budgets)…
How to buy a home with a low down payment – includes a tips section about how to figure out on paper what you can afford.
What sort of money you’ll need lined up in order to buy a house – great if you’re not sure about all the costs involved.
Once you get past the initial stages of considering home buying, you can check out some handy tips that will save you money as you look for your perfect home.
[image via stock.xchng]
