How Much Money Can I Borrow To Buy A Home?

Definition of "How much money can I borrow to buy a home?"

There’s really no easy and quick answer to “how much money can I borrow to buy a home?”

It will all depend on the overall financial health of the area in question, the financial health of the mortgage company in question and the risk that giving a loan to you will provide to that same company. However, the first two aspects mentioned will weigh less when you apply for a mortgage, after all; everybody wants some profit, right? So, if the overall market condition is good and the financial health of the company is great, they *might* get a portion of their earnings to re-invest to bring even more revenue but the bigger part of it will be converted into profit for its shareholders  not necessarily on making your life easier by loaning you more. That’s capitalism, buddy.

Alright, are you lecturing me or answering how much money can I borrow to buy a home, RealEstateAgent.com?

Ok. Let’s cut to the chase. You will get as much money as the calculations of the mortgage company say you will be able to pay it back in a timely manner. And to figure out how much that means in your case, we will need to figure out what is your risk to the company.

To do that, you'll need to figure out what your gross income is (before taxes) monthly and yearly. To get a quick ballpark figure, take the yearly income of yourself - and your co-purchaser if applicable - and multiply by 2 to 2 1/2. Most people will fall into this category. There are other things to consider, however – like monthly debt payments and home-related expenses like homeowner’s insurance policy cost and homeowner’s association fees, your expected loan term and interest rates. If you have a large down payment combined with little to no bills, the lender may believe that you could afford a more expensive home than the ballpark figure allows.

An important thing to do in order to prepare yourself to lure the mortgage companies into a large loan amount is taking care of your credit score, developing good habits towards it. Once you understand what is a credit score and how does it impact real estate, you will be able to secure, most of the times, not only better deals, but with less hassle.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Questions

Popular Real Estate Glossary Terms

Real rate of interest on a loan. It is the coupon rate divided by the net proceeds of the loan. Assume Sharon took out a $1,000,000, on year, 10% discounted loan to buy real estate. The ...

Right of a party, the assignor, to allocate the benefits of certain insurance policies to a third party, the assignee. Insurance on real estate may assign the policy to protect the property ...

Landlord's right to receive the value of the tenant's property to pay for unpaid rents or for damages to the leased premises. ...

In real estate and across the nation, you will see different types of house structures, frames, and aspects. One of those is the A-frame type. This is an architectural style that leans ...

One-time charge assessed by a bank or other financial institution at the closing of buying real property. The fee increases the effective cost to the borrower. One discount point translates ...

Charges resulting in involuntary encumbrances against real property derived from legislated law rather than from debts owed to organizations o r individuals. For example, of a homeowner ...

Insurance affording protection against losses due to damage to or destruction of property or contents therein. Insurance protects assets and any future income thereon from loss, such as a ...

Analysis of a real estate sales data to appraise real estate values. Sources of real estate sales data used in the market data approach include the official records of deeds and leases ...

Absence of a personal liability such as when a creditor may seize an office building used as security for the obligation but cannot attach any other assets of the debtor. ...