I want to buy a house, how much money should I have saved up?

Answer 1

In order to answer your questions truthfully, I as well as anyone else on this forum would need to know your credit score.

Your down payment is based primarily on that score.

There are conventional loans that with a higher enough redit score you do not have to put anything down, you could qualify for a 100% mortgage.

There are FHA loans where you might not need a credit score, but will need to bring about 3-5% as a down payment and that includes closing cost. If you live in a high cost area such as California, 85-90% of the houses exceed the FHA and other government loans sales price as the conventional loan amount is somewhere around $420,000.

The best thing to do is contact a mortgage broker to find out what amount of house you are qualified to purchase. He/she will complete a loan application for you, once that is completed they will then run a credit report which will have your credit score on it.

After that is done and other thing figured out on your credit report and loan application the mortgage broker will then be able to sit down with you and explain all the programs that you are qualified for.

He should be able to go over all and any options available to you with your credit score.

There are lots of mortgage loan programs available and too many to go over here, but I will mention a few.

There are the fixed products that run from 50-40-30-20-15 years. With this product your interest rate will remain the same until you completely pay off the loan unless you refinance it.

There are a few adjustables where the interest rate will remain the same for a certain period of time, after which the interest rate will go up. Now remember that there is a cap on the interest rate and the cap will dictact how much the interest on the loan can go up at any one time as well oh much it can go up per year.

Everyone buying a house have different financial challenges, so mortgage that fit others might not fit you, so you have to, make a decision as to which of the loans you have to select from is best for you.

If it is an adjustable then that is the best for you at the time, make sure you understand when the interest rate will go up and how much that will cause your monthly mortgage payment to increase.

So because someone else has their head in the sand and don't understand adjustables does not mean that you have to put you head in the same sand.

Select the mortgage that you are comfortable with and fit your financial needs at the time. Of course things could change,but if you are ahead of your game and is paying attention to your financial situation, you can adjust without losing everything.

About that down payment now, how much do you have and when did you really want to get into the market of purchasing a house?

Houses are not gonna get any cheaper, for some reason they keep going up so what you are saving for today might cost more tomorrow and you will be on the treadmill of saving for an increasing amount of house which you will never get save enough for. So don't become a saver. At some point in your life, simply buy a house,nothing is perfect, just keep in mind your financial siuation and not just for the day, but 2-5 years down the road.

One of the best ways to find out about appreciation in houses find out from your father and mother when they purchased their house and what they think it is worth today.

I hope this has been of some use to you, good luck.

"FIGHT ON"

Answer 2

For FHA first time home buyers, you need 3% down payment. For other loans, you need 5 to 10%.

The amount of loan you can afford is typically 3 to 4 times your gross annual income (before taxes). For example, if you earn $50,000 per year, you could probably qualify for a loan somewhere between $150,000 to $200,000.

With 3% down, you need $4500 to $6000.
With 10% down, you need $15,000 to $20,000

Add another $5,000 for closing costs.