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How much house can you afford?

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ChistineNJ
Frequent Contributor

How much house can you afford?

I bring home 3300/mo the home im interested in is 380,000 according to an how much you can afford calculator i can only afford 175k?, my question is when im ready to apply for a motgage and go through the process will an underwriter kick back a set amount that id be qualified for or will they qualify me for what im asking for? Shane my household income is much more,  Id say 7700/mo but everyone has their own bank accts etc.. When prepping  for a mortgage how should my banking look. "we" have the income but only "I" will be appkying for the mortgage. Currently we a family of 3 my parents and I. I Pay rent and my bills, my parents pay utilities and their bills. Every ones finances are seperate 1 month they may pay rent so on my bank statements you might not see a rental payment consistently. Any advice? Also I bring home 3300 my expenses are 300 student loans 500 auto payment. 

C1 Venture 15K| NFCU NAV CHECK 15K| CASH REWARDS 5K| CARE CREDIT 3K| NORDSTROMS 1K| LORD & TAYLOR 1100| WALMART 600| TargetRed 500|Rebuilders

CAP1 1650| CAP 1 1100| BARCLAYS 2500| NREWARDS 8500|
SCT: VS 1100| EXPRESS 1100| JCREW 250| *HIDDEN TL BML 650

SCORES 709, 657, 623
Pre BK scores: 569, 587, 553
Message 1 of 12
11 REPLIES 11
tufa4311
Established Contributor

Re: How much house can you afford?

the easiest way to find out is to go ahead and apply - contact a mortgage broker, fill out all the paper work, get a credit pull, and THEY will tell YOU home much house they are willing to give you a mortgage for. Mind you, they are not telling you how much house you can AFFORD, just how much they'll finance.  You telling them how much you want doesn't play into it much, you can tell your mortgage broker, but in the end the underwriters will base it on there own calculations. You can go back and forth on this board and get people's comments, and that can be helpful, but in the end the only way you will know is by applying. (I would asume that if you are the only one that will have the mortgage then only your income can be taken into account but that's not based on fact, just an assumption - if your name is the only one on the mortgage then you are the only one responsible for it - if you can't pay up they can't go after others in your family (with all this other income you noted) becuase they are not owners of the house.- but again, this part is assumption on my part)

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Message 2 of 12
ShanetheMortgageMan
Super Contributor

Re: How much house can you afford?


@ChistineNJ wrote:

I bring home 3300/mo the home im interested in is 380,000 according to an how much you can afford calculator i can only afford 175k?, my question is when im ready to apply for a motgage and go through the process will an underwriter kick back a set amount that id be qualified for or will they qualify me for what im asking for? Shane my household income is much more,  Id say 7700/mo but everyone has their own bank accts etc.. When prepping  for a mortgage how should my banking look. "we" have the income but only "I" will be appkying for the mortgage. Currently we a family of 3 my parents and I. I Pay rent and my bills, my parents pay utilities and their bills. Every ones finances are seperate 1 month they may pay rent so on my bank statements you might not see a rental payment consistently. Any advice? Also I bring home 3300 my expenses are 300 student loans 500 auto payment. 


When you apply for a mortgage to purchase a home, you apply for a specific sales price along with estimated (or actual) amounts for property taxes, homeowners insurance (which may include flood insurance, etc.), homeowners association dues, and mortgage insurance (if applicable).  So I recommend you apply for the highest amount you'd consider purchasing, as if you can qualify for a $100k purchase then a $90k purchase wouldn't be a problem... but if you apply for $90k and get approved then you won't know if you can qualify for more.

 

Only the income from the person(s) applying can be used to qualify - if someone isn't on the loan then their income doesn't qualify.

 

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by your question, "How should my banking look?".  Can you elaborate?  I can tell you that when applying for a mortgage, it's good to only deposit your own income in your bank account... as any large deposits will need to be explained and will likely require proper documentation.  Gifts and other sources of deposits are fine, but again they need to properly documented so if you aren't sure on how to document them, then don't deposit the funds because it's possible the underwriter may not allow you to use those deposit amounts to help you qualify.

Free Mortgage Advice & Pre-Approvals (FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie, Freddie, Non-Prime, Construction, Renovation/Rehab, Commercial) since 2002
Located in Southern California and lending in all 50 states
Message 3 of 12
ChistineNJ
Frequent Contributor

Re: How much house can you afford?

Shane you answered my questions thank you, my family does alot of tsf between our account thats what i should have said. Thank you boad. Also i have yet anthor silly question if i wanted to go through the pre-approval process is that a hard pull or soft. One last question if i may, right now im at about 25% utilization should i bring open credit card debt to zero before  applying?

C1 Venture 15K| NFCU NAV CHECK 15K| CASH REWARDS 5K| CARE CREDIT 3K| NORDSTROMS 1K| LORD & TAYLOR 1100| WALMART 600| TargetRed 500|Rebuilders

CAP1 1650| CAP 1 1100| BARCLAYS 2500| NREWARDS 8500|
SCT: VS 1100| EXPRESS 1100| JCREW 250| *HIDDEN TL BML 650

SCORES 709, 657, 623
Pre BK scores: 569, 587, 553
Message 4 of 12
TheGardner
Valued Contributor

Re: How much house can you afford?

Pre-approvals are hard pulls.

You will have DTI issues going for a 380k house as it is so yes I think you want all debit cleared before applying for the home.

Good luck!
If anyone needs me I will be In The Garden. Goal Score: 760 for all in 2015.
Current FICO Scores EX: 715 EQ: 756 TU: 762
Last APP April 21, 2015.
Victim of The great AMEX HP heist of Dec 1st, 2nd and 3rd of 2014.
Message 5 of 12
ChistineNJ
Frequent Contributor

Re: How much house can you afford?

Thank you gardner i need all the luck i can get, i noticed in your siggy you have a nfcu mortgage if you can can you share your experience with them, im aiming for a nfcu va loan

C1 Venture 15K| NFCU NAV CHECK 15K| CASH REWARDS 5K| CARE CREDIT 3K| NORDSTROMS 1K| LORD & TAYLOR 1100| WALMART 600| TargetRed 500|Rebuilders

CAP1 1650| CAP 1 1100| BARCLAYS 2500| NREWARDS 8500|
SCT: VS 1100| EXPRESS 1100| JCREW 250| *HIDDEN TL BML 650

SCORES 709, 657, 623
Pre BK scores: 569, 587, 553
Message 6 of 12
ShanetheMortgageMan
Super Contributor

Re: How much house can you afford?

Do you have VA entitlement yourself? 

 

If not, are you going to be able to come up with a $47,500 down payment (12.5% of $380k) that I mentioned in your previous thread from June?

Free Mortgage Advice & Pre-Approvals (FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie, Freddie, Non-Prime, Construction, Renovation/Rehab, Commercial) since 2002
Located in Southern California and lending in all 50 states
Message 7 of 12
unc0mm0n1
Established Contributor

Re: How much house can you afford?


@ChistineNJ wrote:

I bring home 3300/mo the home im interested in is 380,000 according to an how much you can afford calculator i can only afford 175k?, my question is when im ready to apply for a motgage and go through the process will an underwriter kick back a set amount that id be qualified for or will they qualify me for what im asking for? Shane my household income is much more,  Id say 7700/mo but everyone has their own bank accts etc.. When prepping  for a mortgage how should my banking look. "we" have the income but only "I" will be appkying for the mortgage. Currently we a family of 3 my parents and I. I Pay rent and my bills, my parents pay utilities and their bills. Every ones finances are seperate 1 month they may pay rent so on my bank statements you might not see a rental payment consistently. Any advice? Also I bring home 3300 my expenses are 300 student loans 500 auto payment. 



380k seems like a lot. I bring home three times your salary and I barely felt comfortable with a mortgage that size. Maybe I'm just conservative, but you should make sure your house doesn't stretch you too thin financially.

Last App March 23, 2015. Gardening until November 25, 2015
Current Score: 766 EX 734 EQ 780 TU 6/30/2015Starting Score/Goal Score: 580s/780s across the board
Message 8 of 12
TheGardner
Valued Contributor

Re: How much house can you afford?

They were great to work with! I also went with a VA loan. We applied in April and closed last Friday so I didn't have to stress over time lines so definitely YMMV depending on how fast you need to close. They need 45 days to process VA loans but was rather painless conditions.

Good luck.
If anyone needs me I will be In The Garden. Goal Score: 760 for all in 2015.
Current FICO Scores EX: 715 EQ: 756 TU: 762
Last APP April 21, 2015.
Victim of The great AMEX HP heist of Dec 1st, 2nd and 3rd of 2014.
Message 9 of 12
TheGardner
Valued Contributor

Re: How much house can you afford?

I should also note my DTI and other conditions with your loan are not the same. I suspect getting approval for a mortgage this size with your current stated income will definitely be a challenge regardless of the lender.

Am I mistaken or did they pass a law limiting DTI on home loans capped at a certain percentage after the housing bubble? To correct selling houses people couldn't afford?

That being said we qualified for max VA amount and couldn't imagine buying over 200k.

Of course different parts of the country bring different challenges so I could see how you may need more rather than want.
If anyone needs me I will be In The Garden. Goal Score: 760 for all in 2015.
Current FICO Scores EX: 715 EQ: 756 TU: 762
Last APP April 21, 2015.
Victim of The great AMEX HP heist of Dec 1st, 2nd and 3rd of 2014.
Message 10 of 12
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