Monthly Mortgage Payment (sale, insurance, mortgage broker)

[ChosenGSR]

A monthly mortgage payment (including insurance/tax) that equals exactly half of your after-tax take home for the month.
example:

Monthly after-tax income: $3,800
Monthly mortgage/insurance/tax: $1,900

assume no other debt (car,loan,whatever)
Is that reasonable?

[ChosenGSR]

I am pretty sure I would qualify for whatever the best rate offered is with my credit score and income level. I will be looking for something in the 330k range, as I'll be putting down ~60k downpayment. It seems like a fairly favorable buyers market right now, and will likely continue in that way at least through the end of the year (from all I've read). I am planning to make a move in the winter.

[timlinville]

If your net income is 1800, figuring 30% tax bracket, your gross is around 5K per month. If you have no other bills like you say, then the $1800 net you claim would actually fit the old criteria of 36% back ratio. $330K sale price - $60K down, = $270K loan amount. That would give you an 81.81% loan to value. You would actually need to put a little more down to stay at the 80% Loan to Value which enables you to eliminate PMI( Mortgage Insurance Primium). With a middle score of 720 or better, you should be able to qualify ( depending on your geographical location ) for the best rates, say currently at 6.250%. So, 264,000@6.250% for a 30 year fixed rate would have your Principal and Interest at $1625.49 per month. This would leave you with $2174.51 per month for Taxes and Insurance and all other living cost like gas, food, electricity etc.
In my professional opinion, you are sitting in a very good position to buy and depending on your lifestyle, should not have difficulty in making your monthly paymens and still be able to "live".
This is a lot of assuming, but it's what I had to work with. (mortgage broker, florida)

[ChosenGSR]

Originally Posted by timlinville

If your net income is 1800, figuring 30% tax bracket, your gross is around 5K per month. If you have no other bills like you say, then the $1800 net you claim would actually fit the old criteria of 36% back ratio. $330K sale price - $60K down, = $270K loan amount. That would give you an 81.81% loan to value. You would actually need to put a little more down to stay at the 80% Loan to Value which enables you to eliminate PMI( Mortgage Insurance Primium). With a middle score of 720 or better, you should be able to qualify ( depending on your geographical location ) for the best rates, say currently at 6.250%. So, 264,000@6.250% for a 30 year fixed rate would have your Principal and Interest at $1625.49 per month. This would leave you with $2174.51 per month for Taxes and Insurance and all other living cost like gas, food, electricity etc.
In my professional opinion, you are sitting in a very good position to buy and depending on your lifestyle, should not have difficulty in making your monthly payments and still be able to "live".
This is a lot of assuming, but it's what I had to work with. (mortgage broker, florida)

Thanks Tim, this is a very informative reply. My net income is slightly higher at 1860, as well as quarterly bonuses that typically ad up to another net figure of 1500 per quarter.

I am looking at places that range anywhere from 345-350k, I am assuming due to the "somewhat" favorable buyers market that I can get them to come down to ~330k. Does that sound reasonable?

As far as PMI is concerned, I often hear from people that being a first time home buyer with good credit score (760) I should be able to get a no PMI loan even if I put down less than 20%? Is there merit to that? In either case I can get the PMI dropped fairly soon as I'll be within a few percentage points of the 20% down payment. As far as the rates go, if I go to cnn.com and look at the loan rates at the bottom, I see 5.84% for 30 year loans. Is that considered the "prime" rate, a rate which one with excellent credit should be able to qualify for?

[lscalder]

6.25 you should get a lower rate then 6.25

well my Moderator cut: advertising

[shockerfd]

Damn, I have a Fico score of 796 and I still have to carry PMI. I am getting Md Bond and maybe that has something to do with it. We're making no down payment. Md Bond is kicking in 2% toward closing costs which covers almost all of ours. We're also netting about 4,000 after taxes and taking on a 1375.00 mortgage, with taxes, ins, pmi.

[ChosenGSR]

Originally Posted by shockerfd

Damn, I have a Fico score of 796 and I still have to carry PMI. I am getting Md Bond and maybe that has something to do with it. We're making no down payment. Md Bond is kicking in 2% toward closing costs which covers almost all of ours. We're also netting about 4,000 after taxes and taking on a 1375.00 mortgage, with taxes, ins, pmi.

That sounds like a great income to mortgage ratio. Mine should skyrocket when my gf graduates in a year, at that point we should be around 110k/yr combined.

It's scary as heck though starting out with just a single income