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.
Popular Real Estate Questions
Popular Real Estate Glossary Terms
The time period a real estate investment is held. The return is tied to the time period of the investment. The period is used for income tax purpose to determine whether a profit earned or ...
The term market segmentation is mostly used in marketing for assembling prospective buyers in groups based on their needs and their response to a marketing action. One definition of market ...
Premiums in insurance and real estate define as a bonus or surplus money. A dividend means a periodic fee you have to pay for your insurance protection. While in real estate, a premium ...
Exposed heating unit located within a room that transfers heat generated by hot water or stream through conduction. The surrounding air circulates around the radiator using convection ...
The floor of a building closets to the building grade. Normally, the ground floor of a building is the first floor. A ground floor can sometimes be located between the first floor and the ...
An inlaid stone or wood flooring arranged in tightly fitting geometrical patterns. It is decorative and often more than one color. ...
Issued to correct errors in another deed such as spelling errors in a name or an improper legal description. For example, a correction deed was issued to the property owner Smith to amend ...
Real estate held for productive use or investment. Land is recorded at the acquisition price plus incidental costs including real estate commissions attorney's fees, escrow fees, title, ...
Form of financing that replaces or "takes-out" a construction loan to a developer. The take-out loan is a permanent mortgage loan which replaces the construction loan when, commonly, the ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.