As Higher Mortgage Interest Rates Cause Some Home Buyers To Stretch Their Monthly Budget A Bit Further, It Is More Important Than Ever To Keep The Cost Of Future Home Maintenance In Mind!


As Higher Mortgage Interest Rates Cause Some Home Buyers To Stretch Their Monthly Budget A Bit Further, It Is More Important Than Ever To Keep The Cost Of Future Home Maintenance In Mind!
By Scott Rogers • October 10, 2023
An important first step in considering your first or next home purchase... is talking to a qualified mortgage lender to better understand your potential monthly mortgage payment for the home you may decide to purchase. You'll be working with that mortgage lender to get a rough idea of two things... [1] The amount of money you'll need to have available at closing for your down payment and closing costs. ... and... [2] The amount of money you will be paying each month for your mortgage payment. But that's not all of the big picture calculations you should be doing. If you have $60K of cash available for a downpayment and $2,500 you could spend on housing...and you work things through with your lender and discover you need a $40K downpayment and your monthly mortgage payment will be $2,100 per month... great! That gives you a buffer in cash in hand for emergencies and you have extra room in your monthly budget. If you have $60K of cash available for a downpayment and $2,500 you could spend on housing...and you work things through with your lender and discover you need a $60K downpayment and your monthly mortgage payment will be $2,500 per month... maybe great, maybe not! Spending all of your available cash on the downpayment and closing costs... and spending the entirety of your monthly housing budget on your mortgage payment does not leave you with any room to deal with potential future home maintenance costs. What if you need to replace the heat pump in a few years? What if you need to replace the roof in five years? What if a kitchen appliance breaks? If you decide to stretch yourself monthly budget to make a house payment work -- make sure you have a game plan for those future home maintenance costs too! Receive Updates by Email Recent Articles: There Are Plenty Of Types Of Houses That Exist That Just Are Not Available To Purchase Home Sales By Price Range In The City Of Harrisonburg Are You Compromising On Aspects Of Your Next Home That You Can Or Cannot Change Later? How Much Slower Are The Winter Months In Our Local Housing Market? Rockingham County and New Home Sales Drive Surge in Area Housing Market Find The Balance Between Optimistic And Realistic Home Pricing Room Size Is Difficult To Understand Solely From Real Estate Photos How Much Would You Value Not Having To Prepare Your Home For Showings? One Out Of Four Homes Is Taking Longer Than A Month To Sell Consider The Cost Of Your Planned Renovations When Planning Your Offer
Have any questions? Contact Scott Rogers at 540-578-0102 or scott@funkhousergroup.com
Based on information from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of REALTORS® or its MLS, for the period Jan 1, 2000 through Nov 21, 2024 (unless otherwise noted).
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