How to Calculate Your True Cost of Living and Determine How Much Home You Can Afford

A monthly mortgage can seem like enough of a financial responsibility on its own, but there are many factors involved in home ownership that affect its fiscal feasibility. If you're in the market for a house and are wondering how your income will stack up against the rest of your expenses, here's how to determine a home cost that's reasonable for you. Determine Your Down Payment Before you start with anything else, you'll want to determine the amount of money you can put down so you can estimate your monthly payments. The traditional amount for a down payment is 20%…
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How to Determine How Big of a Down Payment You Need

Whether or not you're new to real estate, there's little doubt that you've heard the term down payment as it relates to purchasing a home. There's a lot of different information out there in regards to how much this figure should be and it can be hard to determine exactly what the importance of this payment is. If you're trying to determine the ideal amount to put down, here are some things to consider. Explaining Down Payments And Why They're Important The down payment is probably one of the largest single payments you'll make for anything, and this is why…
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3 ‘Must Know’ Pieces of Advice for First-time Home Buyers

When delving into the realities of home ownership, there can be many factors involved that make it difficult to determine what you need to know and what can wait until later. If you happen to be a first-time buyer who's looking for the best tips for purchasing a home, look no further than the following three pointers to set you on the right path. Get Familiar With Your Credit Score If you haven't looked at your credit report for a long time, it can be a daunting task to request this information. Fortunately, your credit report is free from AnnualCreditReport.com…
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