How much do I need to make to get a $200,000 loan?

Question

Just as a general ballpark figure, I have decent credit and a pretty good salary. How much should I be making to by a $200 - $250 home?

Answer 1

When you Decide to buy, decide on how much you want to spend, if you want to escrow the taxes and insurance. Say the taxes are 1200 a YR and insurance 800 a year (just an estimate, ok) That is 2,000 a year divided by 12 = 166.66 If you paid 1,000 a month now - (166.66) your P/I Principle and Interest would be 833.34. Now you decided on the price range you are looking into. If you have great credit, a 1 loan at 130,000 at a rate of 7 percent over a 30 year time would be 864.89 - A 200,000 home at 7 percent would be 1330.60 and a 250,000 at 7 percent would be 1663.25 that is not taking in the taxes and insurance. Lenders will look at your DTI (debit to income ratio). For great credit - they look at 45 DTI possibly 50 percent (half your income), and bud-prime they will go up to 55 DTI. Say your other bills (not counting utilities) is 600.00 month (Car payment and 3 credit cards) Income 65,000 divided by 12 months = 5416.67 minus 600.00 and taxes and insurance 167.00 = 4649.67 x 45 percent = 2092.36 month. This is just a estimate - ok -

It greatly depends if you need help with closing cost, (The seller could do Seller Help toward your closing cost). If that is the case, I normally tell my clients NOT to hackle over the price, since you are asking for closing cost help - especially if the home is thru a realitor, and the seller has to pay the realitor their fee which runs from 3-6 percent of the selling price, and you ask for 3-5 percent toward closing cost -assistance) Follow me so far??

Talk with a broker, a broker underwrites for many company's (I underwrite for 150 companies) so I only have to pull credit 1 time, and they look at my credit. A single lender (not a broker) has programs available, but they may not be able to help you and your situation, so you go elsewhere, and than that person pulls your credit (see what I mean.) If you shop, your credit is pulled and that is considered a soft pull, for a 30 day period. Just like shopping for a auto, it is good for 30 days. If you apply for a credit card, that is considered a "hard" pull and it drags down your credit score. When looking for a home, please do not apply for a credit card, Department Charge Card, Gasoline Card or make any major purchases, like a auto, etc. This will pull your credit down.


Try to find someone (broker) that will pull your credit one time, and submit your loan application to company's that will go off his credit report. By the way, a loan application is called a 1003, and they will issue you a GFE (Good Faith estimate, with-in 3 days, that is per the RESPA laws, and the TIL (Truth in Lending). The GFE will tell you the up-front closing cost associated with your loan. The TIL will tell you the terms, rate associated with your loan. This is a estimate only - not the final - but it does help you figure things out.

If you go with a FHA loan, FHA has MI included. (With a 580 + you will be going sub-prime the rates are higher by about a 1 percent, but you have no MI. (MI is mortgage insurance in case you default on the loan, it is a way for lenders to have added insurance. It is not the same as Home Owners insurance, ok)

Conforming A+ borrower's loans have MI included, but the rates are better starting in the mid to high 6's (with rates going up.) The more money you borrow - the higher the rate normally. There are a lot of factors involved.

With a government loan - collections and judgements will have to be paid (most ppl do not know that) but for FHA it is true....


Good Luck, and if I can help in any way check out my web site, for links to all the credit reporting agency's and other useful information. This is not an advertisement - just helpful information for you...

http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/...

http://www.fha-home-loans.com/

http://www.freddiemac.com/

home values Just add 10-15 percent to the values on this site.:
http://realestate.yahoo.com/Homevalues

Answer 2

As long as the home is appraised at the value of the mortgage and you have money for the down payment and closing costs, I don't think some of the lending institutions much care. From my view, you should look at how much money you have coming in and how much you want to have going out. Some people increase their income tax withholding status at work so they have more money per month in anticipation that the interest on a large mortgage will really offset what they owe in income taxes. If you go on some of the real estate web sites, next to the house listing, they show the anticipated monthly payment. Remember you have to pay the real estate taxes and homeowners insurance as well and the payment on the mortgage each month--they are all added up to determine your payment amount. Some communities also have association dues. Good luck. You can't afford NOT to have a home of your own of some kind so you can build up some equity.

Answer 3

$200,000 of loan at 6% for 30 yrs comes to around $1200/mo and not including taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance or anything else. I don't think that I would buy a house like that without making at least $100K depending on your other bills, wants and needs. You would want to put down as much as possible to lower your interest rate and heaven forbid you lose your job. A 30 year committment is a long time to worry about paying $1600-$1800 a month. In addition to the down payment, plan to have at least 8-12 months of living expenses in a savings account. If you cannot sock away the difference between what you would pay for your housing and what you currently pay for your housing for the next 6 months you cannot afford the loan. If you can, you'll have a nice down payment in addition to what you have to put down already.

Answer 4

Rough rule of thumb (according to most lenders) is 3-4 times annual salary, so if you want to borrow the whole $200K you should be earning at least $60-70K.

To make your whole life easier, though, you should only borrow 2-3 times your salary. You'll start off with (much) less house, but you won't be struggling, and can amass other savings. That means that in five years you can put a huge downpayment on a much better house (the one you really want), and probably not have any bigger of a mortgage payment. Most of your first house ayments will be interest anyway!

Good luck.

Answer 5

It's according to where you live. here if you are the only one making the payments you need 20% down or equity equaling that )such as land already owned.:).
You would need at least 70 grand a year to comfortable afford the risk. Any less would be putting you at risk in the future.
You also need the equalient of 1 year's advance payments to be safe from things you have no control of such as loss of income though accident or illness, divorce, hi medical bills ect. gas too.
MOst people don't have the 1 year advance money available, but there are also foreclosures every day of the year except sundays.
With a loan of this size(even thoughit's small in most areas) you need tohasve your butt covered for emergences which coould threaten you and your family money wise.

Answer 6

Hi Ryan,

There's not really a "one-size-fits-all" answer to this question. Several people use a 1 to 3 rule, but a lot depends on other factors. What other debts do you have? What interest rates do you qualify for? Are you making any other regular payments (such as child support)?

Bankrate offers a handy calculator that you can use to get estimates based on your situation. You can change the values and run several calculations until you find a mix you like. Good luck!

Answer 7

I believe rule of thumb is three times what your salary is, is the home you can qualify for...for example if you make 60k you can buy a home for 180k, with lower interest rates that may differ some, because payments are lower. I think my ex qualified for a 210K mortgage and I believe he makes around 65k and has excellent credit. The best thing to do would be to talk to a mortgage banker and get pre-qualified. Good Luck.

Answer 8

I would estimate around 75-80,000. It depends on how much you are putting down and what interest rate you get. Generally, you don't want your mortgage, taxes, and insurance to be more than 1/3 of your takehome pay. So to a certain extent, it would also depend on if you are single or married. Hope that helps.

Answer 9

Ryan, it looks as if you should be making about $37,500 to afford a $200,000 loan. In case you are ready to purchase a property, please contact me, as I can help you get a loan. I am a loan officer with Mortgage America, and we have over 300 lenders w/1000's of loan programs to suit your mortgage needs. O look forward to helping you. e-mail me at [e-mail]

Answer 10

The ratio is usually 3.5:1 loan to income. Meaning that for every $35K you borrow you need to make $10K in income. To get a $200K loan you'll need about $57K in income.