Real estate guides? So what are the tricks you can use to be able to increase the size of the mortgage you can afford? Those solutions revolve around how people calculate the maximum mortgage they can afford. They use industry guidelines that cap how much of their gross monthly income they can safely spend on housing and how much on all debt. One common guideline is known as the 28/36 rule. That’s a shorthand way of saying that a household should not spend more than 28% of its gross monthly income on housing expenses. In addition, spending on debt of all kinds should not top 36% of household income. That cap on debt spending applies to everything from mortgages to car loans, student loans and credit cards.

After narrowing the search to 2 or 3 homes, your agent will do whatever research is necessary to aid you in making your decision. Ultimately, however, it is your decision. Some tools that can help you make that final decision include school reports (if you have or are planning on having children), statistical information from the local chamber of commerce, future zoning or road expansion from local planning offices, etc. Whatever the factors of importance are to you, have your agent help locate that information. Once you have selected a single home to focus on, your agent will conduct a comparative market analysis on that property. This involves determining “fair market value” by looking at what other buyers were willing to pay for properties similar to yours in the same neighborhood or area.

Many mortgage and business loan lenders deliberately make the lending process more complicated and time consuming in order to gain financially. Such a behavior in economics is called rent-seeking. Rent-seeking is an attempt to obtain economic rent by manipulating the social or political environment in which economic activities occur, rather than by creating new wealth. At RobustLoans we keep rent-seeking lenders out of our lending network to save you time and money. Further, there are literally hundreds of mortgage and business loan products and lenders. We match you with up to three lenders that are best for you given your personal situation and requirements. Last, but certainly not the least, our services are completely FREE to you. Explore a few more info at HUDstore.

Buying more house than you can afford. It’s easy to fall in love with homes that might stretch your budget, but overextending yourself is never a good idea. And with home prices still rising, this is easier said than done. How this affects you: Buying a home that exceeds your budget can put you at higher risk of losing your home if you fall on tough financial times. You’ll also have less wiggle room in your monthly budget for other bills and expenses. What to do instead: Focus on what monthly payment you can afford rather than fixating on the maximum loan amount you qualify for. Just because you can qualify for a $300,000 loan, that doesn’t mean you can afford the monthly payments that come with it. Factor in your other obligations that don’t show on a credit report when determining how much house you can afford.

You might hear the word “budget” and cringe a little, but you shouldn’t. Budgeting is not hard, and it doesn’t mean you have to stop doing things you enjoy. Budgeting is simply creating a plan for your money so you have a better idea of where it’s going every month. A popular and effective way to budget is with the 50/30/20 rule. How it works is 50% of your income goes towards the necessities (bills, food, housing, etc.), 20% of your income goes towards savings and the remaining 30% you can use for whatever you please. This is a nice and easy way to break down your paycheck, but you might need to adjust it a bit to fit your lifestyle. Mortgage: This one’s a tricky one, but mortgages are generally considered good debt. They are usually long-term loans with low interest rates, so you’ll still have money freed up for investments and such. The interest from mortgages is also tax deductible, so that’s a bonus. In the end, it’s up to you to decide whether purchasing a home is the right move, as the value of a house will not always rise as some people think. You’ll also have to add in the expenses of property tax, utilities, and home insurance. See a few more details on this website.