Taxes, PMI & Homeowners' Insurance (loan, interest rate, property tax, premium)

[AESS86]

Question for you all:

My husband and I are looking to buy our first home. We are planning to go with a FHA loan and put down 3.5%.

We are currently trying to determine what the Harris County property tax rate is, how PMI is determined, and what the monthly premium for homeowner's insurance would be, so that we can determine exactly how much house we can afford.

Anyone know anything about these things?

Edit: OH, and this is for Houston, Texas residents.

[piyf]

Can you give a specific area? In the Houston market it varies but I'll give you rough estimates.

Property Taxes = 2.1-4.2%


Don't know about the other stuff.

My property tax rate is 3.1% and got a 15yr loan putting down 3.5% (164K home) and I pay 1,780/month and I live in Dickinson. But my payment includes Wind Insurance of 600/yr due to living in Galveston County. PMI is really low on a 15yr loan. I think I pay around 25 bucks a month. On a 30yr loan it would've been over 120/month.


Good luck.

[Poltracker]

Originally Posted by AESS86

Question for you all:

My husband and I are looking to buy our first home. We are planning to go with a FHA loan and put down 3.5%.

We are currently trying to determine what the Harris County property tax rate is, how PMI is determined, and what the monthly premium for homeowner's insurance would be, so that we can determine exactly how much house we can afford.

Anyone know anything about these things?

Edit: OH, and this is for Houston, Texas residents.

Figure 3-4% and you'll be in a safe range for insurance and taxes. Can vary though if you will be in Clear Lake or the bay area, you will need additional wind insurance. Flood insurance is always a good idea. The taxing entities will be: MUD/City taxes, school taxes, county taxes and several smallish district taxes (i.e. hospital district).

[Modification Specialist]

Originally Posted by AESS86

.....our first home. We are planning to go with a FHA loan and put down 3.5%....determine what the Harris County property tax rate is, how PMI is determined, and what the monthly premium for homeowner's insurance would be, so that we can determine exactly how much house we can afford.

Anyone know anything about these things? Edit: OH, and this is for Houston, Texas residents.

Welcome to the site. Congrats on buying your first home.

For the taxes -Search by Property Address at Harris County Block Book Search

FHA loans are the right type of loan for first time home buyers. Noting FHA loans are the worst type of loan for loan modifications.

Be advised - FHA insures loans with Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP), compared to a Lender charging Principle Mortgage Insurance (PMI)...

I could get technical - keeping things simple. This is how your can calculate it. Multiply your Loan Amount by 1.15% (rate charged for FHA loans). Divide that by 12 months to see your payment.

Concerning your home owners insurance - talk to the people where you have your cars insured with, asking about a blanket policy for both your cars and home together. Most times you can get a discount...

One more piece of advice - plan on sending extra into payment. Take one payment and divide by 12 and add that 1/12th into your normal payment. That will reduce your term by 7.5 years, it lowers your net effective interest rate by 2%, the best is you can really manipulate your credit score higher...


Good Luck...


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