Cost of Buying a Home
You’re thinking about buying a home and starting to build home equity. Good thinking! There are a few things you should consider before rushing into anything. There are costs that are inevitable when you are going buying a home.
Lenders Requirements:
You will first need to calculate how much your mortgage payment will be including PITI (explained below). In general lenders require that your housing payment per month be less than 28-33 percent of your gross monthly income. Besides that, all total monthly debt payments should be less than 36% of your gross monthly income. This includes things such as student loans, credit cards and mortgage costs.
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PITI:
PITI stands for the mortgage principle, insurance, taxes and interest. This is what lenders are looking at. All of these things combined determine your mortgage amount. Of course, these are not the only costs of buying a home.
Down Payment:
This is the money that you put “down” toward buying a home. It translates into a monetary commitment to buying the home. Most down payments are 5-20 percent of the value of the home. If you pay less than 20% down, you may be required to purchase a PMI which is Private mortgage insurance. This is money that protects the lender if you default on the loan. PMI is normally 0.15%-2.5% of the loan amount.
Closing costs and Loan origination and other fees
There are many things involved in closing fees, most of which will be listed below. For the most part, closing costs are considered the tax and insurance that you pay at closing. They normally range from 2-3% of the total amount on the loan.
- Loan Origination fees on a $200,000 home in Georgia; Origination fee would be $2000, Application fee approx. $422, Commitment fee $565, Funding fee, $225, Processing, approx 376, Document prep, $170
- Underwriting
- Tax service
- Home appraisal
- Flood certification
- Pest and other inspection
- Title insurance
- Title work
- Attorneys fees
- Mortgage points
- Title insurance charges
- Other: Be sure to consider that your lender may require you to have certain insurance for the area in which you intend to buy. For example; if you are buying a home in Florida, you may have to have flood insurance as well as other types of storm insurance against things like hurricanes, or earthquakes in California. You also have to have first year hazard insurance.
Note that fees are sometimes paid by the institution covering the loan. This can be very helpful in keeping down closing costs and many lenders now pitch in some of the closing costs as perks to take loans through them.
Be sure to talk to your lender about any costs other than those listed. It varies from state to state and lender to lender on what charges you are responsible for and what costs the lender picks up. Having an idea of the general costs, however, prepares you before you start to look for your home.
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