Buying a Columbia SC Home: How Much Salary Needed?
One of the questions we're asked quite often of people buying a Columbia SC home is, "How much salary do I need to make in order to qualify for a mortgage?"
On a national scale, a buyer who puts 20 percent down would need to earn a salary of $48,604 to afford the median-priced home in America. But that total varies a lot from city to city, and that holds true for anyone buying a Columbia SC home.
HSH.com estimates that you can buy the median home while making less in some areas than others, but some salaries require nearly $90,000 or more. But the most expensive city by far is San Francisco, where the site estimates you would need to make $142,448 to buy the median home in the area.
Qualifying Guidelines When Buying a Columbia SC Home
The site's calculations assume that a buyer spends 28 percent of gross monthly income on housing, including principal, interest, taxes and insurance, (in line with industry guidelines for standard "front-end" debt ratios) and makes a 20 percent down payment on a house.
To calculate the cost of buying the median-priced Columbia SC home, HSH.com combines its own average interest rate for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages in the fourth quarter; the National Association of Realtors' data on median-home prices in the fourth quarter; average metropolitan property tax data from the Tax Foundation, a Washington-based think tank; and statewide average homeowner insurance premium costs from the Insurance Information Institute, an industry organization.
The data is, of course, an estimate — for one, property taxes and insurance costs will vary depending on the property — but it gives you a good idea of how housing costs varied around the country in the fourth quarter.
Another varying factor based on buying a Columbia SC home is the lower mortgage rates today compared to when rates climb higher. As interest rates rise, so must the salary of the average buyer of a Columbia SC home.
Find more news articles as they relate to buying a Columbia SC home under our Columbia SC Home Buying Tips section of articles, as well as Columbia SC Mortgage Info to your right under Columbia SC Real Estate Categories. Also find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for daily updates as well.