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Know How Much Home You Can Afford Before Committing To A Lender

When a mortgage loan offer is made, both lenders and borrowers have a shared interest in restricting the loan to a specific amount. The idea is to lend an amount to the borrower that he can comfortably pay back. After the recent housing slump, lenders have become more cautious in lending money to people since many borrowers failed to pay off their loans on time. They are using different ratios including the debt-to-income ratio to work out the amount they should lend to the borrowers. Therefore, if you want to take out a mortgage to buy your dream home, you should ask yourself "
how much home can I afford".

When you work out how much home you can afford before making a commitment to a lender, it helps you choose a loan that you can pay back without difficulties. The lenders use the debt-to-income ratio to see how much mortgage they should offer to the borrowers.

Debt to income ratio

The debt to income ratio shows how much of your monthly income is directed towards repaying your financial obligations. There are two types of debt-to-income ratio, namely front ratio and back ratio.

1) Front ratio

The front ratio demonstrates how much of your monthly income goes towards your housing payments. While calculating your front ratio, you should include private mortgage insurance, property taxes and homeowners' insurance into your housing payments. Private mortgage insurance becomes necessary for borrowers who can't make a down payment of 20%.  The rule of thumb is that the housing payment shouldn't exceed 28% of your monthly income.

2) Back ratio

The back ratio indicates how much of your monthly income is directed towards your overall debt payments. Student loans and credit card debt are also included. The basic guideline is that your overall debt payments shouldn't surmount 36% of your monthly income.  

The importance of your credit score

Your credit score also works as a deciding factor in how much mortgage you can afford. The better your score, the higher is the likelihood that lenders would be flexible regarding the requirements for debt-to-income ratio. When you have a good credit score, then lenders become convinced that you have been paying your bills regularly and won't hesitate to offer the loan to you. 
When you precisely figure out how much home you can afford, this helps you avoid unfortunate events like a foreclosure.