How much house can you afford?

To arrive at an affordable home price, realtors followed the guidelines of most lenders. In general, that means your total debt payments should be no more than 36% of your gross income.

For example: When you calculate your monthly debt (including credit cards, student loan and car payments), lenders come up with a maximum monthly home payment you could handle while staying under that threshold.

 “That home payment assumes a 30-year mortgage at current rates, and includes 1% property tax and 0.4% for homeowners insurance.”

“It does not factor in private mortgage insurance, which you'll owe if your down payment is less than 20% of the purchase price.”

“You should reduce the maximum target if you have other savings needs (such as retirement and college) or additional expenses (such as child care, private school tuition, health care, or alimony payments)”

 

The Do’s and Don’ts on finding a ratable credit repair service

 When looking around for a great credit repair work service, there are things you must do and things you absolutely must REFRAIN.

DO look around– have several choices.

DO ask concerns about fees– legitimate credit repair services shouldn’t take all your money up front.

DO discover exactly what type of guarantees they make.

DO attempt and get as much in composing as possible to safeguard yourself.

DO your research! Always check the Better Business Bureau to make sure that company is reputable. Goggle is a good tool to use to read up on different reviews on companies.

DO N’T believe claims that the service can remove any bad credit, can raise your credit score in a short period, and so on

 DO N’T pay a large amount up front– lots of scams will certainly take your money and run.

DO N’T sign up for any credit repair services that are unwilling to give you something in composing.

DO N’T make use of the service without completely investigating its qualifications.

By law, credit repair services should give you a copy of “Consumer Credit File Rights Under State and Federal Law” prior to signing an agreement with them. A credit repair work service cannot make false claims about their services or charge you in full till they have provided services.