Lenders! How much house can I afford?

Dom asked:


I want to buy a house next January near Sacramento, Ca. The housing prices are $270,000+ and the cheapest it gets in a decent area is $250,000. Rent in the similar area is $1500.

-We are a family of 3 and have a monthly take home of $5400.
-We have $10,000 in credit card debt (using 18% of total credit), $10,000 in school loans, and pay $530 a month for a car.
-Our current FICO scores are 712 and 719.
-I am an accountant trying for my CPA and my wife is a social worker
-The goal is to save $10,000 in cash to put down and have the credit cards completely paid off.
1) What interest rate should we qualify for?
2) What are the monthly bills we need to pay for the house (Insurance, taxes……)?
3) How much can we afford?
4) Any other advice?

Yes I know that it would be nice to save 20% and then buy a house but California’s house prices are too high. Anything else you need to know?
New houses are advertised at the same price as used ones. Used ones have grass and already are decorated while new homes are not. For the same purchase price, is it better to go used or new for a first home?
For that calculation, do you use take home numbers or pretax figures? If it is pretax then we actually make $6833 a month

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