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Most say 2x or 3x your annual income. My bank said 3x my annual income, and they were insane.
Since your loan officer works on commission, they will sell you the most expensive house they can to make the highest commission. They dont care if you can afford it.
I do believe the OP is a poor kid and dreaming. The $50K salary is hypothetical at this point and a sort of goal. The kid wants to appear "rich". Notice the stately/classy quality of the house he linked to. He's created other threads "what kind of clothes do rich kids wear?" and "is this a good first car?", the latter in which he linked to several year old, high mileage Mercedes models. He may be about to go off to college, but whatever it is he is doing, he is certainly researching how to create a new persona for himself.
In the late 70's it was usually 2.5 times your income. Maybe up to 3 times if your job was especially secure or you had no other debts. However, mortgage interest was nearly 10% at the time.
Do you own any assets right now? What's your job security like - are there prospects for a steady increase in pay, etc? Personally, I would be reluctant to take on a $200k mortgage at $50k per year salary, but I'm sure many people have done so before and succeeded. Generally, each $100k of mortgage is $500 per month in payments (exact numbers may differ, but that's the ballpark figure I typically use). So you're looking at a minimum of $1000 per month in mortgage payments alone, plus property taxes, maintenace/repairs, utilities, insurance, and so on. It adds up fast.
Nope. There is a lot more to the cost of owning a home than the price. Taxes, Insurance, Maintenance, HOA if you have one, etc. NEVER buy a house for the maximum amount that you qualify for.... NEVER.
Your gross income per month at 50K = $4166
Your monthly payment should be 25% of your gross income 4166*.25=$1041
Banks will tell you up to 39% which is $1624
I would stick with a payment under $1100 in your situation. If you can pay more than that great.... invest it.
With typical debt, you need to figure out if you're typocal or not, I always tell my buyers a good rule of thumb is 3.5 times your salary. At $50k, that would be $175,000. Other factors are also how much you plan on putting down. The more you put down, the higher the price can go. The more debt you have, the lower the price will go. It's all about debt to income ratios. You need to look at your monthly debt.
I've always heard 2.5 times your gross salary, so a 50k salary would be a 125k home. I've also always gone by 20-30% down minimum (25-37.5k). The exception to this would be if you are flipping the house, then you wouldn't need to put as much down since you'll be paying only interest on the loan anyway (assuming you sell the house within a year or so).
I would say if your mortgage payments will be less than your rent is then go for it. I have a feeling a lot of people commenting here do not live in desirable cities. In Denver you cannot find a 1 bed condo for less than $200k even rundown shacks in the undesirable neighborhoods will run that much and a small bungalow in say Wash Park starts around 500. 1 bedroom apartments are running $800-1200 a month most places while a 200k mortgage figures about $775. If you live in NYC, DC, LA or SF you're even more screwed. On the other hand there are still plenty of crumbling cities or rural areas in America where you can by a home for $30-50k, so cost of living in your area and the quality of life (read consumerism) you're accustomed to is a big factor of how far you can stretch.
Everyone forgot to mention property taxes. Around here they would be 6k on a 200k house. In many parts of the country it might only be 1500. And Insurance (flood and other). That stuff adds up quick.
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