What's Your Mortgage Compared To Your Income?

[Shell B]

So, we're buying a house, and we're really nervous we will get in over our heads, so we're frantically trying to reassure ourselves by talking to other people about their experience with mortgages. If you're comfortable, can you tell us what your mortgage is compared to your income? If you're uncomfortable with actual numbers, would you be comfortable sharing what percentage your mortgage is of your net income and how comfortable you feel with it? Thanks!

-Sincerely, Freaked the Fuck Out

[chimp3]

My last mortgage was about 13% of my gross income. When I lived in Southern California it was close to 25%.

[RoadRunner79]

My house costs about 25% over yearly income. Mortgage Was about a years income.

It was scary, when going to the banks for approval, they wanted to approve me for a specific house. I asked, what they would give me, in case I decided on some thing else. The number was crazy. No wonder the banks and people where getting into trouble.

I will say now, that I’m glad I went less, rather than more. It’s nice to have the extra money; and a home is what you make it. Also, don’t forget to added in insurance and taxes. Just don’t try cutting things tooo close.

[Joods]

I pm'd you Shell.

[Seraphina]

My mortgage when I bought my condo in 2003 was about $925 per month but I can't remember how much of a percentage that was of my net income back then.
Have you pre-qualified for a mortgage? Maybe start there. If I remember correctly, a debt to income ratio is used to calculate how much you will qualify for. I qualified for a number that was higher than I was comfortable with so I looked for properties in a lower price range.
I added up my monthly bills and decided how much I wanted to budget for a mortgage.
Your comfort level is really a personal thing (I'm conservative with spending.)

Congrats on buying a house - that's very exciting!

-Teresa

[Shell B]

Thanks, guys!

We've done a ton of math and have come to about 40% (or maybe less, since we didn't include bonuses, which are plentiful) of our net income, that's after 401K, all medical bills (HSA), insurance. It includes home insurance and taxes. It seems kind of high, but our debt to income ratio is okay. We qualify for more, but FUCK that. If we go 50K less, we only save a few hundred dollars.

[RoadRunner79]

I’m guessing percentages probably aren’t that helpful. It alll comes down to what you have left over at the end of the month. Sounds like your being responsible. Plan on emergencies and replacements... make sure you can have some savings. I’ve been working on the house the last couple of summers. Every project ends up being about twice what I thought.

[Joods]

Also I dont know how property and school taxes along with homeowners insurance are done up there, but back when I owned a home, I was required to pay the insurance and taxes for the first year up front. As I made my mortgage payments, a certain amount was taken out and automatically put into an escrow account so that when the insurance and taxes came due, they were automatically paid by the mortgage company. Of course when taxes were raised, it naturally raised my mortgage payments. But it was nice to know I didn't have to worry about paying those things. I even got a discount when the mortgage company paid my taxes early.

[Minimalist]

After we sold our house in NY and moved out here to Errorzona we put a ton of money down - because we had it - and took a 15 year mortgage which expires next year.   I'd guess that our payment is about 10% of our montly income but as I said, we were in a completely different situation.

[ignoramus]

It's not the mortgage that scares me. It's the cost of vintage Mustang parts from the States! lol!
You know I paid $700 just for delivery, right? Not joking! Everything is fucking expedited! Why can't I get parts delivered cheap on the slow boat?
No such thing with most suppliers over there...