Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

$3000 per month if your DH and you both make about $6k a month combined? Ofcourse there are other costs like cost of living, bills, gas/heat, electric.. Does this seem realistic?

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

You might want to research what oil, electric, water, car insurance, car payments, food, student loans, etc. are going to cost you a month. Plus, the additional daily expenses for credit cards, gas, and personal expenses.
It seems like you might be stretching it a bit to me but everyone lives a little differently.

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

It depends on what your cost of living is. How much will it cost to heat your house, how often do you like to go out, when/if you have children- will one of you stop working?

It's totally doable- but it depends on what you're style of living is.

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

We don't go out that much as it is now.. maybe about once a week but that's it. We don't buy anything we don't need. How much usually does gas, ha heating cost about? I don't know for sure if it's even going to be 3K a month for a mortgage I'm just throwing around some thoughts in my head..

There is a house I saw on MLSI that DH and I fell in love with. The list price is $439,000 and the taxes are $7,365.14.
The math in my head comes up with $3k for a mortage on 400K.. if we get it for that.. does this make sense?

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

Considering the price of oil these days- heating a large house can be $$.

What are you paying now a month in living expenses?

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

Are you including taxes and insurance in that figure? Our taxes and insurance (homeowners, not PMI) run about $860 a month, and our taxes seem to go up about $500 every year since we've lived here. It sounds to me like you're stretching it really thin and if either of you lost your job you'd be in bad shape. In addition to the obvious like phone, gas/oil, electric, taxes, you need to consider the cost of lawn care (whether it's hired out or purchasing a mower, snowblower, etc) and unexpected expenses like having appliances and equipment fail and have to be replaced - you need to be ready if your stove, refrigerator, boiler, hot water heater, etc. break down, not to mention cars - are you paying car loans, student loans, credit card debt, etc.?

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

Is the 6K your gross or your net pay? If it's your gross, I would say no. Even if this is your net, you may be cutting it close.

You should sit down with DH and list all of your current expenses, loans, debts, etc. Also factor in some money to save (for retirement, a rainy day, etc.). Then include taxes and insurance. You also need to figure that you will have higher energy bills than you do with an apartment and you are responsible for all repairs. Does the house need a lot of work, or visually does it look fine? This is another thing I would consider.

It's up to you--you know how much money you spend each month better than I do. To me, it sounds tight, but maybe you can do it. Good luck!

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

sounds too tight. JMO.

Is that $6K number net or gross?

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

if its net.. it definitely is much more doable- BUT... that totally depends on what other debts you have. If you have no debt, and just monthly bills that you'll be paying... then i can't see why you couldnt do it w/ $3k left over after the mrotgage is paid (even assuming taxes + homeowners insurance came out to $1k/month).

bu other debt is really the deciding factor, imo.

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

1/ On 6K net that's 50% of your income. That's without any utilities, etc...
2/ To make it worst, did you include taxes, PMI, insurance, etc...?

IMO... this is way too much for housing expenses.

On 3K, you have to pay the bills (utilities, home phone, cell phones, internet, etc..), cars, insurance, taxes, food, gas, etc... And that's the bare minimum.

You would have to add any other expenses that may occur. Clothes, shoes, make-up, dr' visit, medication, hygiene, etc...without adding anything that can break (appliances, car, etc...)

Message edited 3/4/2007 2:43:58 PM.

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

I think it is definetely doable depending on your debts. But you look like you are in good shape without any car loans or school debt and small credit card debt.

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

It seems like a lot for your income. We make almost that. We pay $5,300 (that is after star) and that is $440/month on top of the mortgage, $63 for insurance and $375 for utilities.
We also have 2 kids in care and cc debt so it might be doable but you would be tight with money depending on your other bills.
Here are some other things you need to remember:
car insurance and maintenance
any car loans or leases
food
clothes
life insurance
cellphones
medical bills
cc debt
spending money
savings
etc.

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

I would say it would be tight based on those numbers.

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

I think your budget would be really tight. Also, I know someone who just paid 400k for a house, and their mortgage with taxes was 4k a month.

Message edited 3/4/2007 5:47:15 PM.

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

Just rough numbers....Whether or not it is "doable" also depends on how much you can put down on the house. If you can put down 20% ($80,000) on a $400,000 house with taxes of $7400 then you monthly payment would be around $2600. However if you put down let's say 10% and pay PMI you are looking at a monthly payment of around $2950. There are also other options out there to avoid PMI (2 mortages, etc..) but I am really not familiar with them.

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

how much do you have left over at the end of the month now?

if it isn't more then enough to cover the difference between your rent and mortgage - plus you don't want to not be able to save anything- just in case something happens

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

I wouldn't do it. you're not giving yourself any room for other expenses or if something goes wrong.

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

I guess it also depends on what you have in the bank.

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

i would research how much bills will be, and taxes, and how much other debt you have.
it also depends how much you eat out, shop, etc.

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

we do it on about 6500/month

our mortgage is about 2800-2900/month

lipa: 134
oil: 115 was 150 (115 is with an overcredit)
phone/cable/internet:160
celllphones: 150
life insurance: 67.50
car insurance:178
credit card bills: 500
food:200
gas: 150

and we put away some $$ every month.. not alot but it is doable....

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

Re: Is it possible to afford a mortgage of

As long as you don't have a lot of other debt you can definitely do it and probably save a little each month.