How much money should you have in your bank account to buy a house?
A good number to shoot for when saving for a house is 25% of the sale price to cover your down payment, closing costs and moving expenses. (This amount is separate from saving up 3–6 months of your typical living expenses in a fully-funded emergency fund—which I recommend you do first, before saving up for a home.)
Save for a down payment: You'll typically need at least 3 percent of the purchase price of the home as a down payment. Keep in mind that to avoid having to pay for mortgage insurance, though, you'll likely need to put at least 20 percent down.
In fact, your lender might require you to have two to six months of reserves, especially if you're buying a second home, your credit score is low or your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio is high. Mortgage lending guidelines define one month's reserves as one month's housing expenses.
But, at the bare minimum, you'll need to have an additional three to five percent of the price of home saved to pay for costs associated with closing, which could include lender fees, title and escrow fees, transfer tax fees, and possibly money to fund an escrow account, explains Alfredo Arteaga, an Irvine, California- ...
The most typical cash reserve requirement is two months. That means that you must have sufficient reserves to cover your first two months of mortgage payments. So if your principal, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI) come to $2,000 per month, the reserve requirement will be $4,000.
One rule of thumb is that the cost of your home should not exceed three times your income. On a salary of $70k, that would be $210,000. This is only one way to estimate your budget, however, and it assumes that you don't have a lot of other debts.
To purchase a $200,000 house, you need a down payment of at least $40,000 (20% of the home price) to avoid PMI on a conventional mortgage. If you're a first-time home buyer, you could save a smaller down payment of $10,000–20,000 (5–10%). But remember, that will drive up your monthly payment with PMI fees.
For a conventional mortgage in California, you typically need a minimum score of at least 600. If you qualify for certain government-backed loans, however, you may be able to buy a home with a score as low as 500.
The 28% rule
To determine how much you can afford using this rule, multiply your monthly gross income by 28%. For example, if you make $10,000 every month, multiply $10,000 by 0.28 to get $2,800. Using these figures, your monthly mortgage payment should be no more than $2,800.
Red flags on bank statements for mortgage qualification include large unexplained deposits, frequent overdrafts, irregular transactions, excessive debt payments, undisclosed liabilities, and inconsistent income deposits, which prompt lenders to scrutinize the borrower's financial stability and may require further ...
At what age should you pay off your house?
If you are under 45, it's difficult to argue that your dollars would be better served paying off your mortgage unless you are on Step 9, pre-pay low-interest debt. You should aim to be completely debt-free by retirement, and after age 45 you can begin thinking more seriously about pre-paying your mortgage.
Calculate your down payment
“Aim to save between 10 and 20 percent for your car down payment,” says Nishank Khanna, chief marketing officer at Clarify Capital in New York. “Putting down a large down payment will help you reduce the total interest you end up paying on the loan and lower your monthly payment.”
Consider an FHA loan
The FHA loan is a popular option that allows buyers to put as little as 3.5% down on a new home, which can be given in the form of a financial gift from family or from a qualified non-profit or government agency. Sellers can also contribute closing costs up to 6% of the sales price of the home.
The 28/36 rule dictates that you spend no more than 28 percent of your gross monthly income on housing costs and no more than 36 percent on all of your debt combined, including those housing costs.
How much should you save each month? For many people, the 50/30/20 rule is a great way to split up monthly income. This budgeting rule states that you should allocate 50 percent of your monthly income for essentials (such as housing, groceries and gas), 30 percent for wants and 20 percent for savings.
Your income plays a significant role in determining how much mortgage you can afford, but it's not the only factor. Lenders like your housing costs to be about 28-36% of your income, including mortgage, taxes, and insurance. A higher income can qualify you for a larger loan amount.
So, to estimate the salary you'll need to comfortably afford a $300,000 home purchase, multiply the annual total of $24,000 by three. That leaves us with a recommended income of $72,000. (Keep in mind that this does not include a down payment or closing costs.)
An individual earning $60,000 a year may buy a home worth ranging from $180,000 to over $300,000. That's because your wage isn't the only factor that affects your house purchase budget. Your credit score, existing debts, mortgage rates, and a variety of other considerations must all be taken into account.
Housing-affordability guidelines suggest spending no more than about one-third of your income on housing. So, by tripling the $15,600 annual total, you'll find that you'd need to earn at least $46,800 a year to afford the monthly payments on a $200,000 home.
Conventional mortgages, like the traditional 30-year fixed rate mortgage, usually require at least a 5% down payment. If you're buying a home for $200,000, in this case, you'll need $10,000 to secure a home loan.
How much house can I afford for $8,000 a month?
| Monthly Pre-Tax Income | Remaining Income After Average Monthly Debt Payment | Estimated Home Value |
|---|---|---|
| $7,000 | $6,400 | $313,000 |
| $8,000 | $7,400 | $360,000 |
| $9,000 | $8,400 | $416,000 |
| $10,000 | $9,400 | $523,000 |
To qualify for a conventional loan, you'll need a credit score of at least 620, though some lenders may choose to approve conventional mortgage applications only for borrowers with credit scores of 680 and up.
Zero-down mortgages make the most sense if you have limited savings that you may need to hold onto or put toward other expenses, such as closing costs, moving costs or furniture. Or, you might use your down payment savings money to do work on your new home.
You can borrow $50,000 - $100,000+ with a 720 credit score. The exact amount of money you will get depends on other factors besides your credit score, such as your income, your employment status, the type of loan you get, and even the lender.
On a salary of $36,000 per year, you can afford a house priced around $100,000-$110,000 with a monthly payment of just over $1,000. This assumes you have no other debts you're paying off, but also that you haven't been able to save much for a down payment.
