SCORE
Skip Navigation
  • Why FICO
  • How It Works
  • Pricing
  • Education
  • Community
  • Support
  • Member Dashboard
  • Log In Log Out
  • Start Plan
 
  • Why FICO
  • How It Works
  • Pricing
  •  
  • Education
    • Credit Education
    • Credit Scores
    • What is a FICO Score?
    • FICO Scores versions
    • How scores are calculated
    • Payment history
    • Amount of debt
    • Length of credit history
    • Credit mix
    • New credit
    • Improve my score
    • Credit Reports
    • What's in your report
    • Bureaus
    • Inquiries
    • Errors on your report?
    • Calculators
    • Know Your Rights
    • Identity Theft
    • FAQ
    • Glossary
  • Community
  • Support
  • Member Dashboard
  • Log In Log Out
  • Achieve My Goals:
  • Credit Cards
  • Mortgages
  • Student Loans
  1. Get prepared
    1. Make sure you're ready
    2. Get the scores that lenders use to evaluate you
    3. Organize your paperwork
    4. Make the time to get preapproved
  2. Choose your loan
  3. Shop around
  4. Evaluate offers
  5. Handy calculators for home buyers

Make sure you’re ready for a Home Mortgage Loan

Because buying a home is often the largest financial investment you will ever make, you should first determine if now is the right time for you to get into the housing market. There are a few basic questions you can answer that will help you decide. We’ll walk you through this assessment by supplying you with some information and tools to help you evaluate your situation. After you’ve answered these questions and done a little personal number crunching, you should have a pretty good idea if you’re ready.

Am I better off renting?

Am I better off renting?

Plug in your current rental and potential home purchase numbers to find out if you should rent or own.

Buying a home isn’t always the best decision, even if you think that you’re ready. There are benefits to being a homeowner such as tax deductions and building equity. But there are also potential disadvantages you should consider like managing the monthly mortgage payments and coming up with the money for a down payment.

How much can I borrow?

How much can you borrow?

Enter your income and debt information to see both conservative and aggressive estimates of how much money you can borrow.

This is really a two-part question: how much can you borrow and how much should you borrow. The first part of this question can be answered by using a standard calculation called the debt-to-income ratio. Basically, lenders don’t want your total debt to be more than 36% of your gross monthly income. This percentage includes your mortgage payment and any auto, credit card, student loans or other debt you currently have.

The second part of this question isn’t as easy to quantify with numbers, but instead asks how much debt you are willing to live with. An aggressive approach has you paying more each month for a more expensive home while a conservative approach gets you a less expensive home with more manageable mortgage payments and less overall debt. This decision is based on how you prefer to manage your money and debt.

How much will I save in taxes?

How much will I save in taxes?

Get an idea of the tax deduction you’ll receive.

This is another question that helps you determine if you can afford to buy now. When buying a home, you may be devoting more of your monthly salary towards mortgage than you currently do towards rent, but you will get a tax break from owning that you wouldn’t from renting. The difference may offset the higher monthly payments, so it’s worth understanding how your taxes will be affected.

After answering these questions, you should be able to decide if now is a good time for you to buy a home. You should also have an idea of the amount you can afford to spend on a home. If you feel good about these numbers, let’s begin preparing for the home-buying process.

Next

An Industry Standard – FICO Scores are used in more than 90% of lending decisions

Fair Isaac Corporation is a BBB Accredited Financial Service in San Rafael, CA
Your FICO Score has...

Take your FICO Score with you on any mobile device & receive notifications when changes have been detected.

Visit www.myFICO.com from any mobile device

Download the free app for the iPhone

FICO

About myfico

myFICO is the consumer division of FICO. Since its introduction over 25 years ago, FICO® Scores have become a global standard for measuring credit risk in the banking, mortgage, credit card, auto and retail industries. 90 of the top 100 largest U.S. financial institutions use FICO Scores to make consumer credit decisions.

>> About myFICO
FICO Score the Score that matters
Fair Isaac Corporation is a BBB Accredited Financial Service in San Rafael, CA

An Industry Standard – FICO Scores are used in more than 90% of lending decisions

Fair Isaac Corporation is a BBB Accredited Financial Service in San Rafael, CA

CONNECT WITH US

Social Media Facebook Twitter Apple App Download Android App Download

POPULAR LINKS

  • Credit scores|
  • Credit reports|
  • myFICO Blog|
  • Affiliates|
  • myFICO mobile
Copyright ©2001-2023 Fair Isaac Corporation.  All rights reserved.   | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Sitemap
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
All FICO® Score products made available on myFICO.com include a FICO® Score 8, and may include additional FICO® Score versions. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO® Score than the versions you receive from myFICO, or another type of credit score altogether. Learn more about other FICO Score versions
FICO, myFICO, Score Watch, The score lenders use, and The Score That Matters are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation. Equifax Credit Report is a trademark of Equifax, Inc. and its affiliated companies. Many factors affect your FICO Scores and the interest rates you may receive. Fair Isaac is not a credit repair organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Fair Isaac does not provide "credit repair" services or advice or assistance regarding "rebuilding" or "improving" your credit record, credit history or credit rating. FTC's website on credit.
PRIVACY NOTICE: When you visit this website we collect your browsing activities on our site and use that information to analyze and research improvements to the website, and to our products and services. When you register for our products and services, we also collect certain personal information from you for identification purposes, such as your name, address, email address, telephone number, social security number, IP address, and date of birth. Further information is available in our FICO Data Privacy Policy. For visitors with visual disabilities, access to this website, including our FICO Data Privacy Policy, is available through assistive technologies, such as BrowseAloud, JAWS, VoiceOver, Narrator, ChromeVox, and Window-Eyes. More details on software and accessibility are available at WebAIM.org.