home loans in HI (maui) (to rent, mortgage broker, credit card)

[sick of the winter]

Trying to gauge how much home I may qualify for..(without actually contacting a broker yet)

I'll be making approx. $106K/ yr. both wife and I have excellent credit (near 800 FICO).

-No credit card balance

-We have 2 car payments

-a couple student loans

-and will have approx. $30K we could put as a down payment.

I know it's a bit vague but I'm trying to gauge us vs. anyone else near our same financial situation.

I know property taxes in HI are much lower than where I'm from. I'm figuring I can afford between $2000-$2400/month mortgage payment. About how much will this be in terms of home cost?

I've seen a few homes I like for around $375K. But I'd like to go a bit higher if possible. Just trying to keep up with the Joneses

[KonaKat]

Contact 2 or 3 mortgage brokers by phone, and they will be able to give you a good idea of where you stand without actually filling out an application. Use Hawaii based companies and 1 or 2 national companies for comparison. If you are a first time homebuyer there may even still be time to qualify for the tax credit. Everything sounds good except your amount of cash
Do you already live on Maui? How long have you been there? If you are just now moving to Maui I strongly suggest renting for 6 to 12 months before buying to give yourself time to find a neighborhood you really like.

[Balad1]

I think you'll find Hawaii based banks/credit unions to be very conservative in their lending practices. Hawaii banks were some of the few to not get tangled up with a lot of questionable lending and bad debt.

[sick of the winter]

Thanks,

This will actually be my 3rd home. But with the lower property taxes in HI (for comparison a $117,000 home in NYS runs me about $4800/mnth in taxes) I was curious what the difference may be.

I assume my salary, although not a ton of money, is above the average middle class income for HI. (even though HI has the most per capita millionaires.) How do many of the families, especially living on Maui, qualify for home loans there givin the median price north of $400K?

I may of course be wrong, but from what I've read here, my salary should be adequate(sp?)?

I was going to rent for atleast 6 months, I've always had trouble renting though. I feel like I'm wasting money. I've been back and forth whether to wait longer or try to buy something while the market is depressed.

Thanks for the insight

[hotzcatz]

Most of the mortgages I've heard of folks trying to get at the moment have a down payment of somewhere between twenty to fifty percent. They've been tending towards the fifty percent number lately. If you can find one which is only twenty percent down, then you're in the $150K mortgage range.