![]() But here’s the deal: You may have to adjust your expectations when you’re buying your first home. Now, you may be thinking $200,000 isn’t a whole lot to spend on a house. Here’s what their savings goals would look like: They decide to get aggressive and save up a 28% down payment over the next two years so they can afford the monthly mortgage on a $200,000 house (with a 5% interest rate). Let’s pretend a married couple who each makes a $50,000 salary have a combined monthly take-home pay of $6,250. Let’s look at an example to see how this works. See how much house you can afford with our free mortgage calculator! Divide the amount you plan to put down by the number of months you to save. Next, it’s time to do some math (hooray!) to figure out how much money you’ll need to save each month to reach your goal. But if you don’t want to buy for a few years, you don't have to be quite as intense. ![]() For example, if you’re on the fast track to buy a house in 10 months, you’ll need to save more aggressively to reach your down payment. When do you want to buy a house? The way you set up your budget for buying a house will depend on when you’re planning to buy.Who doesn’t love that? And don’t forget about extra money for closing costs and any other expenses that could pop up during the home-buying process. Plus, a bigger down payment means smaller monthly payments on your mortgage. But if you can swing a 20% down payment, that’s even better-it’ll keep you from having to pay for private mortgage insurance (PMI), which can be pricey. How much of a down payment do you want to make? If you’re a first-time home buyer, you’ll want to save up a down payment of at least 5–10%.(Anything more than 25%, and you run the risk of being house poor!) Our free mortgage calculator will give you a good look at the monthly payment you can expect for different home prices. Ta-da! That’s how much of a monthly payment (including principal, interest, homeowners insurance, and HOA fees) you can afford on a house with a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage. How much house can you afford? Take your monthly take-home pay and divide it by four.Here are three easy questions to get started. The first step to budgeting for a house is figuring out your savings goals. ![]() ![]() Once you do that, these five steps will set you up with a great plan for buying a home on a budget. So before you start making your house budget, pay off all your debt and save up an emergency fund worth 3–6 months of your typical expenses. Without that kind of margin in your budget, anything that goes wrong or needs repair (like a broken fridge or leaky roof) can turn an inconvenient expense into a full-blown money crisis. Otherwise, owning a home and covering the expenses that go along with it will be super stressful. But first, I need to warn you-you should only buy a house when you’re debt-free with a full emergency fund. We’re about to walk through the five key steps to budget for a house. You just need to know how to budget for a house, plain and simple. Here’s some more good news: You don’t need a fancy degree in economics to avoid becoming house poor. That’s called being house poor, and it means you won’t have enough money left over every month for other financial goals, like investing for retirement or even saving for a vacation. Here's the reality: Drowning in a house payment every month turns that blessing into a curse really quickly. (Otherwise, this dream can turn into a financial nightmare.) I’ve got some good news: Your home can absolutely be a blessing! You just need to make sure you’re financially prepared to buy it, and that you buy a house you can afford. A home is one of the biggest purchases you’ll make in your life, and you want to feel confident making the right decision for you and your family. Are you looking for a fixer-upper or something move-in ready? City or country? Ranch house or townhome? Believe me, I get it. When you’re buying a home, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the decisions you have to make.
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