Do you think we can afford this house.?

Question

umm its 179,000 its almost been on the market for a ayear now.

and i am a medical coder. on the pay of a medical coder do you think i can afford to buy this house? and how much do you think we would be able to get them down. i was thinking 8,000 or 9,000.so please help me.i earn at least 31,000 a year.and i live in new york.

Answer 1

Well assuming you can get the house @ 170,000.  do you have any $$ for the down-payment and how much.  If you can get 10% then your morgage would be about 157,000.  

With a 25 year morgage and 6% rate your payments would be about 1,000/month, before taxes, repairs, utilities

Given your salary of 31K/yr you have Gross 2,583/month.  already the morgage is 38% of your gross earnings.  Without other funding and or a much bigger downpayment I would advise against buying this house

Answer 2

You asked.. Do you think "WE" can afford this house?....

You only gave us the amount of money that you earn a year.  On your income alone NO you cannot afford this house.

Since the house has been on the market for over a year it is very possible that they will take less for it.  It all depends on what they currently owe on the house and if they can continue to afford the payments.

My advice is for you to go to a bank and see how much money you can be "pre-approved" for.   Then go searching for houses within your range.

I also advise you not to buy the most expensive house they say you can afford.  Always leave yourself room for emergencies and failures.  

Realtor.com has a lot of calculators that can determine how much payments will be.

Also I recommend that you a down payment of at least 20% before you buy.  There are a lot of loans out there that don't require that much but if you are responsible enough to save up at least that amount you are probably responsible enough to buy a house.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Olivia,

I suggest you meet with a Mortgage Agent to see what you could be approved for first, that way you have a bank that backs your offer.

After that, if the house is still available, start LOW.  If it's been on the market for almost a year, that means that someone is paying for a house they dont use, and are basically losing money.  I say you offer $100,000.  What's the worst that could happen....they'll counter something higher, but is still cheaper than the initial asking price.  Then you can go from there.  

Also, if you offer that amount, offer to finance with the bank that owns the house (or has a mortgage out on it).  That way, the bank is losing money on the house, but gaining a customer.  

GOOD LUCK!!!!

Answer 4

There is no way you will be approved for that amount with your current salary. Check this link on CNN Money. They have a housing affordability calculator that will tell you the amount you can afford as well as the monthly payment, etc. It also depends on your current monthly debt and how much the property taxes will be.

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/houseaffo...

Answer 5

Olivia    just stating your salary does not help. your other monthly expenses enter into whether or not you can afford the house. If you have NO OTHER monthly bills you may squeak by on your debt ratio but if you have credit cards and an auto loan or student loans you may be way out of price. Get pre qualified bay a mortgage banker in your area as we cannot fully answer your question

Answer 6

on that kind of pay, you would barely be approved for a car loan.  

not only do you have to make the house payment, you also have to pay insurance.  the insurance will be about same amount as your mortgage payment.

they're going to look at your bills before approving your loan. including your cellphone, utilities, insurance, car payments, credit cards.  and don't forget the cost of living ( i.e. toiletries, food... )  

HOWEVER... i'm assuming you are currently renting..... so you will definitely be approved for a home loan if it's closer in range to your current payments.

Answer 7

I don't think you will get approved for that amount, but it depend on credit,interest rate, and debt to income ratio, but that's going to be in the thousands a month without tax and insurance. Its going to be high and unless you have NO other bills you will probably struggle and may end up loosing it like alot of other people have, I would get pre-qualified first of all and they will tell you by going through your finances what amount you can afford and that will be the amount of your pre-qualification letter. Its always good to get pre-qualified first so your not looking at houses that you will not be able to get.Oh yea and down payment varies if its FHA 3% down if its conventional then it can be up to 6-10% down which is alot!

Answer 8

Can you afford $1,000 a month in mortgage payments.  It would likely be at least that -- maybe more depending upon mortgage insurance, interest rate, etc.