what percentage of my income should go towards a mortgage payment or a rental? I net before taxes 31,000 annua

Answer 1

The rule of thumb is 40% or so gross pay after other payemnts are taken out (called back ratio), and 30% or so gross pay (called front ratio). Note that even if you can afford more the bank may be loathe to lend you more than whatever number these ratios give.

Answer 2

Rental properties expect 25% of your income. Mortgages are a little more complex and consider things like your assets, bonuses, debt and etc. For rental property abt 645.00 should go towards your rental. For a mortgage I say to speak with a broker that does not charge for prequalification and they will tell you what you can afford. Please make that a specific question or they will just qualify you for what you want.

Answer 3

http://homebuying.about.com/cs/mortgagearticles/a/debt_to_income.htm will tell you how conventional loans are calculated. Don't, whatever you do, get into the realm of "creative mortgages". A safe amt is 25% of gross and allow for savings so that if you happen to become unemployed for a period of time, you can still meet your total budget obligations (food, housing, transportation, etc)

Answer 4

You should be paying between $500-$600 a month for housing in order to get ahead.

Answer 5

The brokers and mortage lenders will tell you 30% (gross pay).
But the old rule was 25% and that rule definitely works better...because of the additional expenses we have now (cell phones, cable, higher taxes, sewer charges, home insurance, flood insurance (if needed).

Answer 6

You should be able to cover your housing expenses with one-third of your gross income and not get into trouble.

Housing expenses include principle, interest, rent, insurance, real estate tax, parking, condo/homeowner-association fees.
(You won't have all of these.)