How much house can we afford?
March 5, 2008 · Print This Article
Mel asked:
My boyfriend and I are looking to buy our first house. We make $56,000 a year and have no children. What price range of houses should we be looking at and be able to afford comfortably?
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My boyfriend and I are looking to buy our first house. We make $56,000 a year and have no children. What price range of houses should we be looking at and be able to afford comfortably?
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Josh Dunaway has been a certfied Realtor in the suburban Chicagoland area for over 20 years. Aside from starting his own real estate company, he also owns a mortgage company as well.
between $150k and $160k
I would say it depends on your car payment(s) and if you have any other expenses (like medical bills or extremely high credit card debt, etc.)….
Otherwise, I agree with the above answer of 150k or so.
A starter house (first time buyer) for about $150-200K.
The first question is why are you making such a commitment with your boyfriend if you are not willing to be married. If this is not the one you are going to be with, you are opening a can of worms. That aside, depending how much you have to put down, the interest rate you get, how frugal you live, you could buy something up to 200gs, but that may be tough.
you could probably comfortably afford up to 225k depending on your lifestyle. I know my friend makes about what you guys make and he paid 195k for his house. Of course you get what you pay for and he lives in a 140 year old home with absolutely no land in the heart of the city.
It depends on the amount of monthly payments you already have. If you are paying $1500 for credit cards and car payments your actual purchase price would go down. If you have no debt payments then $150k.
I would not buy a house with a “boyfriend”. Regardless of that, you need to consider what other debts you have. You guys may make $56K a year but how much goes to life’s other necessities like cars, insurance, utilities, property taxes, clothing, phones etc?
Not taking other expenses into consideration is one reason why people buy homes more then they can afford and then find out they cant afford the mortgage.