Westlake Village Ca Real Estate, Buying A Home

Westlake Village Ca Real Estate, Some things to think about when you are going to buy a home.

Putting 20% or more down opens lots of doors. When you can make a down payment this big you're almost certain to qualify for somekind of loan. The bank will be willing to loan more money than otherwise, and you won't have to pay for private mortgage insurance (PMI), which in turn helps you afford even more home.

Debt holds you back. The more debt you already have the less home you can buy. Decreasing your debt allows you to afford a more expensive home, everything else being equal. There's more on this on our pages about the Debt Ratio and How much loan can you get?

30-year loans vs. 15-year loans. The advantages of a 30-year loan are that the monthly payments are lower, and with a 30-year mortgage you can qualify for a much larger loan and buy a much larger (or nicer) house. The downside is that you have to make payments for an extra 15 years vs. a 15-year loan, and you'll pay a lot more total interest over the life of the loan.Still, in most cases you'll go with a 30-year loan. We'll cover the differences between these later, but if you can't wait then read about 15 vs. 30-year loans.

We've left out one important thing -- closing costs. You'll need to either pay the closing costs from your savings (lowering the amount you have available for a down payment), or if possible, try to negotiate the seller to pay all or a part of these expenses. Generally, closing costs run around 2.5% of the loan. It is always good to ask for an estimate in the beginning of the negotiations.

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