How to Prequalify a Buyer When You Sell Your Home By Owner
One questions many "for sale by owner" sellers ask is "how can I determine if a potential buyer can afford to buy my house?" In the real estate industry this is referred to as "pre-qualifying" a buyer. You might think this is a complex process but in reality it is actually quite simple and only involves a little math.
Before we get to the math there are a few terms you should understand. The first is PITI which is nothing more than an abbreviation for "principal, interest, taxes and insurance. This figure represents the MONTHLY cost of the mortgage payment of principal and interest plus the monthly cost of property taxes and homeowners insurance. The second term is "RATIO". The ratio is a number that most banks use as an indicator of how much of a buyers monthly GROSS income they could afford to spend on PITI. Still with me? Most banks use a ratio of 28% without considering any other debts (credit cards, car payments etc.). This ratio is sometimes referred to as the "front end ratio". When you take into consideration other monthly debt, a ratio of 36-40% is considered acceptable. This is referred to as the "back end ratio".
Now for the formulas:
The front-end ratio is calculated simply by dividing PITI by the gross monthly income. Back end ratio is calculated by dividing PITI+DEBT by the gross monthly income.
Let see the formula in action:
Fred wants to buy your house. Fred earns $50,000.00 per year. We need to know Fred's gross MONTHLY income so we divide $50,000.00 by 12 and we get $4,166.66. If we know that Fred can safely afford 28% of this figure we multiply $4,166.66 X .28 to get $1,166.66. That's it! Now we know how much Fred can afford to pay per month for PITI.
At this point we have half of the information we need to determine whether or not Fred can buy our house. Next we need to know just how much the PITI payment is going to be for our house.
We need four pieces of information to determine PITI:
1) Sales Price (Our example is 100,000.00)
From the sales price we subtract the down payment to determine how much Fred needs to borrow. This result brings us to another term you might run across. Loan to Value Ratio or LTV. Eg: Sale price $100,000 and down payment of 5% = LTV ration of 95%. Said another way, the loan is 95% of the value of the property.
2) Mortgage amount (principal + interest).
The mortgage amount is generally the sales price less the down payment. There are three factors in determining how much the P&I (principal & interest) portion of the payment will be. You need to know 1) loan amount; 2) interest rate; 3) Term of the loan in years. With these three figures you can find a mortgage payment calculator just about anywhere on the internet to calculate the mortgage payment, but remember you still need to add in the monthly portion of annual property taxes and the monthly portion of hazard insurance (property insurance). For our example, with 5% down Fred would need to borrow $95,000.00. We will use an interest rate of 6% and a term of 30 years.
3) Annual taxes (Our example is $2,400.00)/12=$200.00 per month
Divide the annual taxes by 12 to come up with the monthly portion of the property taxes.
4) Annual hazard insurance (Our example is $600.00)/12=$50.00 per month
Divide the annual hazard insurance by 12 to come up with the monthly portion of the property insurance.
Now, let's put it all together. A mortgage of $95,000 at 6% for 30 years would produce a monthly P&I payment of $569.57 per month. This figure was produced by our payment calculator. Add in taxes of $200.00 per month and add in insurance of $50.00 per month and the PITI necessary to purchase our house equals $819.57.
Putting it all together
From our calculations above we know that our buyer Fred can afford PITI up to $1,166.66 per month. We know that the PITI needed to purchase our house is $819.57. With this information we now know that Fred DOES qualify to purchase our house!
Of course, there are other requirements to qualify for a loan including a good credit rating and a job with at least two years consecutive employment. More about that is our next issue. Bruce Andrews has been in the real estate business for over 20 years. He has experience in real estate investing as well as practicing real estate as a broker for several years. He is currently President of Fifty States Realty, www.fiftystatesfsbo.com a national "for sale by owner" website.
MORE RESOURCES:
|
Common Rental and Real Estate ScamsFederal Bureau of Investigation (press release)A second common scam involves real estate that is posted via classified websites. The scammer duplicates postings from legitimate real estate sites, ...and more » |
Google News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Stopping Home Foreclosure with Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy Will Stop Your Sale - At Least For NowFor $395, you can stop your sale- at least that is what the ads say. You are about to find out how bankruptcy can be good or very damaging.
Small Town Stone House with a Long History
As a native Midwesterner, the first thing I noticed when moving to the Delaware Valley was the enormous number of fieldstone houses. Frankly, I'd never seen such a thing.
Real Estate Investing - Makeovers vs. Flipping
Please don't call it "flipping."Some real estate investors who practice the technique of buying property for immediate fixup and resale call it "flipping houses.
The 21st Century Way To Build Equity
Here to stay and firmly established in the U.S.
Kings Bay Georgia Real Estate - An Amusing Tale About a Real Estate Agent
This story is true and not meant to hurt anyone, but the more that I think about what happened, the more it makes me laugh. I hope that you not only get a chuckle from it as I did, but take your time and look for a professional real estate agent.
Real Estate: Reasons and Priorities for Purchasing Property
Real Estate: Reasons and Priorities for Purchasing Property. It's not just about Real Estate as an Investment.
Real Estate Investment Requires A Team
I had a hard time at first with real estate investment. One of the reasons was that I tended to be a "lone wolf," trying to do too much myself.
How Not To Blow Your Build Budget
Most people who complete a self build will go on to make a profit if they decide to sell afterwards, but what steps can you take to ensure that you don't totally blow the budget?There are lots of advantages to a totally unique self-build but most important is sound financial planning before and during the self-build, to ensure you stay within budget and make worthwhile savings.Research all your costs carefully and get as many perspectives and quotes as possible.
How To Sell A Home That Didnt Sell
If your home has just come off the market and hasn't sold, don't be discouraged. The reason it didn't sell may have nothing to do with your home.
Selling Houses: Design Psychology Works!
I've taught the concepts of Design Psychology for many years, and I know how much it can empower a person, and allow them to create a fabulous home that sustains their emotions. Since it's based on science, I know that Design Psychology is effective at turning plain spaces into happy places.
Real Estate Investing: Infomercial and Mentoring Scams
Flipping through late-night infomercials recently, I saw two real estate get-rich quick schemes, and I couldn't help but wonder why people still fall for those old scams? Has anyone really talked a seller out of his home for no money down with owner financing lately?Real estate infomercials do great harm to beginning investors, who waste hundreds of dollars on old information. Worse yet, those beginners soon get discouraged and miss out on the true (and profitable) adventure of real estate investing.
Internet Battleground for Future of Residential Real Estate
Real estate agents are gearing up to face the biggest shift in their industry since it's beginning. No longer the first in the path of homebuyers and sellers, agents have gone from top feeders to the bottom feeders with real estate consumers in just a few years.
Homes in Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill is located right in the middle of North Carolina, halfway between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. In 2000, the nearly 20 square mile city had a population of 48,715 people and it has substantially increased over the last five years.
10 Frequently Asked Short Sale Questions
1. What happens to the seller's credit rating when they allow an investor to short sell their property?What typically happens is the loan will show up as "paid" on their credit report; however there will be a notation that says "settled for less than originally owed" or something along these lines.
Young Couple Buys Ranch with Government Money
Kirk and Tina Sczepanik had a dream. They wanted a ranch of their own.
Commercial Income Property Financing: Part 1 of 3
Welcome to this first portion of a three-part series about income property. In this first segment we will be discussing financing options for commercial income properties as well as the upside (and downside) of owning this type of property.
Investing in Residential Real Estate: Achieving Positive Cash Flow
When investing in real estate, it is highly desirable to achieve positive cash flow on a month-to-month basis. This is true even if you are counting on property value appreciation to supply the bulk of your desired return on investment.
Real Estate Investing in Rentals - the $10 Million Real Estate Investing Mistake
Renting to tenants is no longer "where the money is" for real estate investing. I became a multi-millionaire landlord in the 1980s by buying $10 million in rental houses.
Home Warranties: Are They Too Good To Be True?
What is a 'Home Warranty?'A home warranty is like an insurance policy. In fact, in some states the Insurance Commission may even regulate them.
Lease Options or Rent to Own?
Finding a rent-to-own house is one of the many ways someone with bad or no credit can buy a house. You will often find them called names like lease/options, lease with option to buy, lease purchase, lease 2 purchase, rent with option to buy, rent to own, or rent to buy homes.
|
