1st time home buyer please help how much "house" can I afford comfortable?

I plan on buying my 1st home this spring. I gross about 65k/yr and the only debt I have is a $222/mo car payment. My credit scores are 729,744,779. I have about 125k in CDS/moneymarkets and plan on using about 40k for a downpayment. I don't want to be %26quot;house poor%26quot; but I don't want a fixer-upper ether. My questions are how much house can I afford comfortable(what price range should I be looking at). Plus how will lenders view me with the info given above and is there anything else they look at when applying for a house loan? I plan on looking in the Albany new york area.

1st time home buyer please help how much %26quot;house%26quot; can I afford comfortable?

You NEED to call a loan agent and talk this over.

You should be fine, but you need to save some of that money. What do you have for retirement?

Keep some for a rainy day, and you need to look at your budget and factor in how much you can afford. Add in about $500 extra each month for utilities and such. Chances are it won't be that high, but you never know.

1st time home buyer please help how much %26quot;house%26quot; can I afford comfortable?

I was taught in economics class, your mortgage payment should be one weeks salary.

1st time home buyer please help how much %26quot;house%26quot; can I afford comfortable?

First, never make a down payment more than 20% unless your plan is to pay off the whole mortgage in the shortest time possible. If you put 20% down you aviod %26quot;PMI%26quot; or more commonly, Mortgage Insurance. One of the biggest insurance scams out there next to title insurance.

If you gross 65 you probably net about 50 or at least you will once you have a mortgage interest deduction for your taxes. 50k a year is a little over 4k a month take home greens. A payment of about $1000.00/month would be reasonable.

Be careful of wolf lenders in sheeps clothing! Most lenders will try to get you into the MOST you can possible afford. That's where you can get %26quot;house-poor%26quot; in about a month. Consider your lifestyle and how much you are willing to change it for a house. Houses are a great investment and you can buy and sell as many and as often as you want. WHAT A COUNTRY! Also consider the utilities like gas, electric, cable, insurance and maintenance. Houses need continuous maintenance. Sometimes things just break or quit working. Be sure you don't put yourself into a position that if your furnace pukes, you have to put it on a credit card in order to replace it to keep warm!

Remember .... you don't have to buy your dream home right outta the gate.

The lower the interest rate on your mortgage, the lower your payment and the more purchasing power you will have. With a CS average of 750 you ought to be able to find a good, low interest rate.

Albany is kind of a high priced market. In other words you can find better deals on similar properties in other areas.

If ya just gotta live in Albany, look at several homes, I mean a bunch, before making a selection. It may irritate the agent but that's what they get paid for.

Most of all, do as much research as you can think of and then ask around for more. After you've become a more educated in the whole thing, especially %26quot;terms%26quot; or %26quot;lingo%26quot; used in the industry, then make your choices.

Good Luck!