During the boom, it was not uncommon for prospective home buyers in the Lynchburg, Campbell County and Bedford County area to discover they could qualify for a housing payment that, in conjunction with their other monthly debt, would consume a majority of their income.

Examples of this could have included total monthly obligations that could meet or exceed 60% of one’s monthly income. Obviously, this could and did create issues for people when the joy of owning a new home was quickly replaced by the sinking feeling that their mortgage payment was now causing extreme financial hardships.

In the month of December, many home lenders are pulling the maximum amount of monthly debt that someone can qualify for, including a housing payment, at 45% of monthly gross income. For many folks, this amount may still be too high based on other payments including child care, insurance or other routine payments not inclusive of normal qualifying debt.

While lenders may have a maximum amount you can allocate to housing, no one knows what you are comfortable paying more than you. To ensure you won’t get into trouble later, express to your mortgage professional what you are comfortable paying and use that number to back into the maximum house you can buy.