I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer go check it out

Saw this question on a more active sub and wanted to share my thoughts. Here's the post:

>If everything cleared, would you close earlier if you could?
>
>I've been doing some online searching about this and it's a bit unclear, mainly because most of the posts I found are only slightly related but not completely (like, questions asking about beginning / end of month closing, and other questions about closing early but not much of the pro/con)
>
>I got things done pretty quickly on my end, way faster than I thought. Including inspections, appraisal, and negotiations. I still have two weeks until closing.
>
>From what I have seen so far, the only con is just that I'll be paying taxes / mortgage etc. from an earlier date rather than the closing date.
>
>Essentially it seems like the analysis is:
>
>- Pro: Relief
>
>- Con: Paying a bit more
>
>If that's the only case, I feel like I'm OK with closing early if the option is available to me. Is there anything else I should be aware of? Personally, would you close early if everything's already done?
>
>Thanks!

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

1. prepaid interest
2. property taxes
3. homeowners insurance

prepaid interest

If your scheduled close is on (example) June 20th, then your first mortgage payment isn't until August 1st.

They charge you June's interest up front. That's11 days they'll charge you.

Here's how to do the math of how much more expensive it will be to close earlier in the month, say two weeks earlier:

take your loan amount, times it by your interest rate, then divide by 365

that's your daily interest charge

$380,000 x .065 (6.5% example with today's average rate) = $24,700

$24,700 divided by 365 = $67.67

$67.67 x 14 days = $947

That's how much more you'd pay in prepaid interest to close two weeks early.

Property taxes

Similar math here.

Say the annual property tax bill is $3,000

$3,000 divided by 365 = $8.21

$8.21 x 14 = $115

That's how much it would cost in property taxes to close 14 days earlier.

Homeowners insurance

The math isn't the same here. If you have a policy that's effective june 20th, and you want to close june 6th, then you'll need a new policy written.

Sometimes that pushes it back through underwriting and you will get a new policy amount.

whatever that difference is is the cost (or credit if it lowers) to close early.

bonus tip: keep your rate lock in mind

Sometimes loan officers make mistakes and only lock in your rate for only a portion of your contract.

If your rate lock is going to expire, then it might make sense to close early to avoid rate-lock extension fees.

extra bonus tip: renegotiate your rate

If rates have fallen during the time you started and the time you're ready to close, you might be able to do a little digging and save yourself some interest.

If you previously locked your rate, and if rates have fallen, and if your lender has a rate renegotiation policy, you should explore it while you have some time.

urgency

If you have a bad feeling and want to get it done asap, then just get it done.

If you aren't feeling anxious, then it makes more financial sense to wait.

hope this helps!

Sam

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer here's the book on reddit.

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer go check it out

Here's a post from a busier sub:

>Hi everyone! Can you please share your tips, what questions, and other criteria you checked before picking your realtor? What lessons you wish you knew with the realtor you fired or got fired by?
>
>We're a first time home buyer couple in GA, within the metro area but with a small budget and what feels like a huge ask for budget (3 bd, 2 ba). Thank you.

Here are my thoughts on selecting your real estate agent.

Most first-time buyers pick their agent the same way: a friend referred them, or they clicked a button on Zillow, or their cousin just got licensed.

The industry has a problem

75%-87% of agents don't renew their license within the first two years.

22%-31% of agents are part-time.

40% of agents do 1-2 transactions per year.

mediocre/part-time agents can stay in the game for a while

The median home price in 2025 was about $405,000. The average buyer agent commission was about 2.5%. That's $10,000 per transaction.

So when an agent goes to renew their license each year, the question in their mind is "did I do at least one deal?"

If yes, they renew. Even if they only did one deal in 12 months.

That's the agent you might be sitting across from. "10 years of experience" can mean 10 deals total.

If I had to pick between an agent with 20 transactions in their first year, or an agent with 10 transactions over 5 years, I'd pick the rookie because reps matter.

Here's what I'd actually look for:

1. Recent transaction volume in the last 12 months. Not "years licensed." (I subscribe to software that monitor's agents activity, but let me know if you'd like help looking into this)
2. Communication speed. Send them a text before you commit. If they take 6 hours to respond when they're trying to win your business, imagine how they'll respond when you're already locked in.
3. Avoid dual agency. This is when the agent represents both you AND the seller. They legally can't advocate for you in negotiations at that point. They become a transaction coordinator. If you found a house online and called the listing agent directly, that's the trap.

NAR settlement from 2024:

two big changes came from this settlement:

• agents can't post online what the commission will be (this dissuaded realtors from showing their clients low commission homes)
• and agents need to discuss commission before showing you homes (signed buyer/broker agreement before touring)

Since agents are required to have you sign a buyer/broker agreement before showing you homes (in most states) they'll present this right out of the gate.

When they hand you that agreement, they're going to be breathing down your neck waiting for you to sign so they can schedule the showing.

Don't rush it. Read it and make them wait.

check for commission in the agreement

The commission section will say something like "Broker will receive X% of the purchase price, any compensation offered by the seller will be credited toward that amount."

Translation: if the seller doesn't pay your agent, you do.

You can't be forced to buy a house. So if the seller refuses to cover the buyer agent commission during negotiations, you can walk away from that house.

Check for length of time in the agreement

The length of the agreement is the bigger thing to watch. Some agents will push for 6-12 months. That's a long time to be stuck with someone you might not like.

I push for a month. "If we don't click, we part ways. No hard feelings."

Sam

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer here's the book on reddit.

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer go check it out

A $400,000 home with 5% down puts you at a $380,000 loan.

At 6.42% (averages rates right now on mortgage news daily) on a 30 year term, your principal and interest payment is about $2,382.

At the bottom of the chart you'll see the grand total...

and you'll probably notice that the interest is at its highest at the beginning of the loan, when your balance is the highest.

Here's what that looks like year by year:

Year	Interest That Year	Total Interest Paid
1	$24,271	$24,271
2	$23,985	$48,256
3	$23,681	$71,937
4	$23,357	$95,295
5	$23,012	$118,307
6	$22,643	$140,950
7	$22,251	$163,201
8	$21,832	$185,033
9	$21,386	$206,419
10	$20,910	$227,328
11	$20,402	$247,731
12	$19,861	$267,592
13	$19,285	$286,877
14	$18,670	$305,547
15	$18,015	$323,561
16	$17,316	$340,877
17	$16,571	$357,448
18	$15,776	$373,224
19	$14,930	$388,154
20	$14,027	$402,181
21	$13,064	$415,245
22	$12,038	$427,283
23	$10,944	$438,227
24	$9,778	$448,005
25	$8,534	$456,540
26	$7,209	$463,748
27	$5,795	$469,544
28	$4,289	$473,832
29	$2,682	$476,515
30	$970	$477,484

In year 1, you'll pay $24,271 in interest alone. By year 30, that drops to $970. Total interest over the life of the loan: $477,484, more than the home itself.

This is why even small extra principal payments early on make such a big difference.

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer here's the book on reddit.

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer go check it out

I'm taking this from a higher activity sub and giving my opinion here:

>Bait and switch?
>
>Put an offer on a house listed at $345/sqft, ~2300 sqft.
>
>It felt overpriced, so we offered 5% below asking.
>
>On Friday, the seller’s agent said there might be another offer coming in. Nothing came that night.
>
>On Saturday, our agent was told the seller wouldn’t look at offers until Sunday, so submit it then.
>
>Then on Sunday, suddenly it became: the seller is religious and won’t review anything until Monday.
>
>Monday comes, and our offer gets rejected for being too low.
>
>Keep in mind, they were selling the house as-is, wouldn’t repair anything, and wanted a 15-day close.
>
>A week later, the seller drops the price by 2% and asks if we’re still interested. We said no. We were pretty firm on 5% below, especially for an as-is house that clearly needed work.
>
>Another week goes by. They hold an open house, and we stop by. We’re told that over 2 days, only 5 families came through and none were interested.
>
>Then literally 2 hours later, the seller’s agent says there’s a strong competing offer.
>
>We decided to come up a bit and submitted 4% below asking. It was accepted. This happened on a Sunday, by the way. So much for “seller is religious and won’t review offers on Sunday.”
>
>The next morning, I checked Zillow to see if the home had gone pending. That’s when I noticed the square footage had suddenly dropped by more than 500 sqft.
>
>Our agent called to find out what happened, and apparently they had included the garage in the original square footage.
>
>So now the price wasn’t $345/sqft anymore. It was actually around $440/sqft.
>
>That made it the most expensive house on the block, for a house that still needed renovations and tons of work, with a seller who wouldn’t offer any incentives.
>
>We pulled out immediately.
>
>Our agent thinks they inflated the square footage to attract more views, then corrected it once they got nervous the appraisal would expose it.
>
>I know it’s "the same house" but the whole process felt shady and exhausting from start to finish.
>
>Anyway, thanks for listening.

>EDIT: They just dropped their price. Competing offer my f***ing a**.

My thoughts

Glad you exited.

I believe seller's agents lie about competing offers, and you have a strong case to suggest that.

Something to do to counter that is to offer an escalation clause in your offer. Like "will beat any competing offers up to $_ with written proof"

So you have a base offer, and a max offer as long as there is proof. That way if you feel like they're lying, you can catch it.

It's a way to not be impulsive, but also not miss out if they're not lying.

The square footage is bad.

I'd have your agent run comparable sales with the new square footage and see how it compares.

Make sure your appraisal contingency is strong. If the value comes in lower you'll want to have an escape route.

Take your due diligence/option period seriously and review if it's still worth it with the correction in square footage.

You can't take anything the seller or agent say seriously now, and have to be careful. If the seller discloses "the house is perfectly fine, no issues" well... you know they're probably lying about that too.

Get an inspector that is extra thorough, and do it quickly so you can negotiate repairs within your due diligence period.

I wouldn't let the seller rush you into a quick closing either.

Sam

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer go check it out

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer go check it out

30-year fixed: 6.57% 15-year fixed: 6.07% 10-year Treasury: 4.46% Average rates from mortgage news daily

Rates spiked on Monday to the highest levels we've seen in over a month because of escalation fears around the Iran war.

Today we're getting a real recovery, with lenders back down to last Friday's levels.

The move came after oil prices dropped on news that the U.S. and Iran are close to signing a one-page memo outlining a peace agreement.

Full details would still take time to work out, but this would effectively end the war.

Oil prices and bond yields fell at their fastest pace since mid-April, and mortgage rates followed.

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer here's the book on reddit.

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer if you want to check it out

Here's a post from a couple that got denied for a mortgage. I'll follow up with some math and my advice on denied applications.

>So, my wife and I found a condo we really love and decided to apply at rocket mortgage. I was told to reduce my monthly payments by $700, so basically I was told no.

>Here is my situation:

>This will be our first home. We have been renting our current residence for 3 years.

>The condo we want is asking 259k, but has been on the market a little more than a year. We imagine we can offer less.

>I make $20.10 an hour and I'm guaranteed 45 hours, but never work less than 50.

>My wife makes $18.44 at 40 hours, and had a second job at $12 an hour for 12 hours.

>I have a $508 a month car lease with 17 months left.

>My wife financed her car and has a $400 a month payment with $26k left on it.

>We have 6k left in student loans, and 5k in credit card debt. (we have reduce our total debt by 10k in the last year).

>We have been able to reduce our debt by about 1k a month.

>My parents have offered us 5k for a down payment as a gift.

>We have 2k in the bank, and about 10k in 401k's.

>We were pretty crushed when we got turned down, but maybe our attempt is laughable.

>We hate the though of losing this condo. What can we do?

>Thanks for any advice, even the brutal kind.

So i'm just going to go through the income as an underwriter would: $20.10 per hour and 40 hours per week (I know he said 45, but I can talk about overtime later) that's $20.10 x 40 x 52 / 12 = gross monthly income.

Which is $3,484

and hers is $3,196

combined is $6,680 gross monthly income.

They're paying $900 per month on cars, and maybe $100 per month on the credit card.

A mortgage payment might look like this, and I'm just guessing here, but using a 6.5% interest rate:

$1,643.38 principal and interest $200 property taxes $0 homeowners insurance (assuming HOA covers it) $117 mortgage insurance $400 HOA

That mortgage payment is $2,360

Add the $1k monthly to total debt and we're at $3,360 total monthly debts vs the $6,680 gross monthly income.

That's right at 50.2% debt to income ratio.

I mean just at a glance, it's below FHA's maximum thresholds for debt to income, so the denial might have come from possible late payments on credit.

Or maybe the condo has higher property taxes and HOA fees.

It might be more likely that the condo/HOA will not work with an FHA loan. In that case, you'd need to get DTI lower, but maybe not too much lower.

Readers will probably say "These guys shouldn't get a home"

But I didn't cover the overtime this guy makes, which sounds like it could be about 20+ hours per week.

It also depends on their lifestyle outside of the debts on credit.

Things you should review if you've been denied

There are a few things you can try before assuming homeownership is off the table.

Here's the order I'd go through:

Check your application for accuracy

A loan officer might run your file through automated underwriting, get a denial, and then tell you "your score is too low" or "you need more down payment."

But sometimes the real issue is missing or incorrect information.

Ask your loan officer for a copy of your 1003 (your mortgage application). Read through it.

Common things that get missed:

• Assets that weren't disclosed (retirement accounts, stocks, savings at another bank)
• Old debts on your credit report that should've been paid off or removed
• Double-reporting on a refinanced loan (old loan still showing, new loan also showing)

Underwriting works like a two-sided scale. Negatives on one side, positives on the other.

If your loan officer didn't list all of your assets, the scale isn't accurate. A retirement account with $40,000 in it adds significant weight to the positive side, even if you're not using it for the down payment.

Ask for a manual underwrite

Most lenders use automated underwriting because it's fast. But automated systems can spit out a denial even when you'd qualify under manual review.

Manual underwriting means a human goes through your file with a checklist instead of relying on an algorithm.

For FHA, here's what they look for on a manual underwrite:

• Cleaner housing payment history (no late rent or mortgage payments in the last 12 months)
• No major lates on installment loans in the past 2 years
• Reserves (a few months of mortgage payments saved up)
• Compensating factors like minimal payment increase from your current rent, strong residual income, or additional income that couldn't be counted

If your loan officer says "we don't do manual underwrites," that's your cue to find a different lender.

Switch to a mortgage broker

This is the move if your current lender hits you with overlays.

Overlays are extra rules a lender adds on top of the actual loan guidelines. FHA's minimum credit score is 580 with 3.5% down, but a lender might require 620. That's an overlay.

A mortgage broker represents multiple lenders. One lender might cap at 620, another at 580, another at 550. The broker shops your file to the lender that fits.

If you got denied at a bank or credit union, this alone might solve your problem.

Address the actual issue

If none of the above work, then the denial is probably real and you need to fix something.

The three most common reasons:

Debt to income ratio is too high

• Pay off a debt with 9 or fewer payments left (lenders can omit it)
• Refinance your car to lower the payment
• Add a co-borrower
• Sell something with a loan attached

Low credit score

• Pull your report at annualcreditreport.com
• Fix mistakes
• Pay down credit cards below 30% utilization
• For collections, ask for "pay-for-delete" - meaning they delete the account if you pay, not just mark it paid
• I had a surprise $100 collection drop my score 100 points. Paid it, got it deleted, score went back up

Down payment/cash to close

• Look into local down payment assistance
• Gift from family (must be documented with a gift letter)
• Sell an asset (almost anything if you can track it with a bill of sale)
• First-time buyers can pull up to $10,000 from an IRA without the 10% penalty

One thing I want to call out: if your loan officer told you "you can't qualify" and that was the end of the conversation, that's not good enough. A good loan officer tells you exactly why and what to do about it.

If yours didn't, get a second opinion.

Good luck, drop questions if you need.

Sam

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer go check it out

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer if you want to check it out

Wanted to share what a $400k home looks like across all 50 states at today's rates.

Assumptions: 5% down, 6.52% on a 30 year fixed, 0.25% mortgage insurance factor, and no other debt.

The table below includes estimates on property taxes and homeowners insurance, so the spread between states is mostly driven by those two (plus a tiny PMI difference based on the loan amount).

State	Monthly Payment
TX	$3,421
NJ	$3,416
IL	$3,384
NE	$3,338
CT	$3,324
KS	$3,248
NH	$3,221
VT	$3,211
NY	$3,188
IA	$3,168
WI	$3,148
FL	$3,139
OK	$3,136
SD	$3,124
RI	$3,121
OH	$3,114
MI	$3,108
PA	$3,074
ME	$3,023
MN	$3,021
MA	$3,018
AK	$2,971
MO	$2,971
MD	$2,958
ND	$2,954
GA	$2,951
AR	$2,941
MS	$2,941
KY	$2,931
IN	$2,911
LA	$2,911
NM	$2,911
MT	$2,908
NC	$2,891
OR	$2,888
WA	$2,874
CO	$2,869
VA	$2,868
CA	$2,861
TN	$2,851
AZ	$2,841
SC	$2,818
ID	$2,809
WY	$2,804
WV	$2,788
DE	$2,781
AL	$2,778
NV	$2,778
UT	$2,771
HI	$2,691

Texas comes in the highest at $3,421/month and Hawaii is the lowest at $2,691/month. Property taxes and insurance do a lot of the heavy lifting here.

People will also point out that you can get a bigger house for $400k in TX than Hawaii. and that's true. But this is just meant to show you what an estimated payment might be.

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer if you want to check it out

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer go check it out

I'm taking this from a higher activity sub and giving my opinion here. This is what the user posted:

>"my parents bought their 4br house for 80k in the 90s and it actually hurts"

>they keep telling me to just save up while the same house today is 650k and hasn't been updated since 1974. i make double what they made back then but i can barely afford a 1br condo with a $400 hoa fee. the math is literally broken and i'm tired of being told it's because of my coffee or netflix habits..

Let's run the numbers because the boomer comparison gets thrown around a lot and I want to actually show it.

$80,000 in 1990 with a 10% rate (average back then) and 20% down = a $562 P/I payment. Median household income in 1990 was about $29,943, so that payment was about 22% of gross monthly income.

$650,000 today with a 6.25% rate and 5% down = $3,803 P/I payment. Plus property taxes, insurance, and PMI you're easily at $4,500/month. Median income today is about $80,000, so that payment is 67% of gross monthly income.

Their payment was 22% of income. Yours would be 67%. You'd need to make about $245k to have the same ratio they did.

...and you should stop watching netflix ;)

Random thoughts: population decline won't start happening until around 2070 in the US. If no one can figure out how to make a lot of structurally sound homes at half the cost, then purchase prices will continue to rise until 2070. that's my prediction.

A bit ago I was told by an older person that us "young people move around too much" and I remember telling him that the game has changed. You have to work harder and longer to get into that house. condo -> Middle townhome -> corner townhome -> single family residence.

First time buyer share of purchases is shrinking but it's still doable.

Sam

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer go check it out

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer go check it out

30-year fixed: 6.44% 15-year fixed: 6.00% 10-year Treasury: 4.43% Average rates from mortgage news daily

Rates dropped today and got back to where we were last Friday.

Monday spiked us up to a one-month high because of escalation fears with the Iran war. But overnight, news came out that the U.S. and Iran are close to signing a one-page memo outlining a peace agreement.

Oil prices dropped, bond yields dropped at the fastest pace since mid-April, and mortgage rates followed.

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer here's the book on reddit.

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer here's the book on reddit.

>We just went under contract today. And I also just got notified that I missed a credit card payment. It’s been more than 35 days and was reported delinquent. I’ve had this card for almost 16 years and never missed a payment before. Actually, I’ve never missed a payment on anything before, until now. It’s a card I rarely use these days and I guess it just got overlooked. I already submitted a payment, it was only $70. My FICO score is now in the low 700s after being right around 800. My spouse’s score is still 750+. We’ve already been pre-approved, but now I’m afraid this will screw us during underwriting.

It's not a deal-killer and might even go unnoticed by underwriting.

They do credit refreshes to make sure you're not taking on any new debt. Not so much to check new credit scores.

Your initial hard credit pull is good for 90-120 days, so if they had a hard credit pull within 90 days, you'll porbably be fine.

Prepare a letter of explanation if they need it. "A one-time late payment on a card I rarely use, thought it was set on auto-pay"

Worst case, if they call for a brand new hard pull report, they'll re-run numbers and tell you where everything lands with a new score.

One more thing worth checking: ask the credit card company for a goodwill adjustment. Call them, explain you've had the card 16 years with a perfect payment history, ask if they'd remove the late payment as a courtesy. They don't have to, but with that long of a history, there's a real chance they'll do it. If they do, your score bounces back almost immediately.

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer here's the book on reddit.

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer if you want to check it out

This will be a quick post highlighting two tools that I think should help first time homebuyers.

know your numbers first

I think a lot of people shop for homes wrong, or do it in the wrong order.

Rather than scrolling online and falling in love with homes and clicking that "see home now" button on Zillow, they should start with the numbers first.

Then set the filters to match their budget.

You can do this by using an affordability calculator: tools.newbhomebuyer.com/affordability

You enter what you can afford for a monhtly payment and down payment, and it gives you an approximate purchase price.

Set your filters to a max price of around that number.

stay organized

Something else that I've noticed is that some home-shopping stretches can cover over 10 homes. And people get confused about which home was which.

So I think you should take good notes on each address.

if you use this homeshop tool tools.newbhomebuyer.com/homeshop

then you can add a listing link, rank and take notes on certain aspects of the home, and then share your list.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Sam

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer go check it out

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer if you want to check it out

Opinions on "how much can I afford?" gets tossed around a lot.

A lender will tell you one number, Dave Ramsey will tell you another, and the 30% gross rule lands somewhere in between.

I ran the numbers on a $500,000 home across all 50 states, with 5% down, .25% mortgage insurance factor, no other debt, and today's average 30-year rate at 6.44%.

Here's what each school of thought says you'd need to make.

Part 1: Minimum for a lender

This is the bare minimum income you'd need to squeak through underwriting at a 49.99% back-end DTI with no other debts, which is the ceiling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow on a conventional loan. Approvable does not mean affordable.

State	Minimum Income
NJ	$101,302
IL	$100,102
TX	$99,801
CT	$98,401
NE	$97,901
NH	$95,501
VT	$95,201
KS	$95,101
NY	$94,300
IA	$93,500
WI	$93,200
RI	$92,300
OH	$92,200
MI	$92,000
SD	$91,800
FL	$91,500
OK	$91,400
PA	$91,100
ME	$89,599
MN	$89,099
MA	$89,099
AK	$87,999
MO	$87,599
MD	$87,499
ND	$87,199
GA	$86,999
MS	$86,499
KY	$86,399
AR	$86,199
IN	$85,899
MT	$85,799
NM	$85,799
OR	$85,499
NC	$85,399
LA	$85,299
WA	$85,099
VA	$84,798
CA	$84,498
CO	$84,298
TN	$84,098
AZ	$83,798
ID	$83,098
SC	$83,098
WY	$82,798
WV	$82,398
DE	$82,298
NV	$82,198
UT	$81,998
AL	$81,798
HI	$79,497

Part 2: The minimum income needed for the Ramsey 25% net take-home rule

This one factors in property taxes, homeowners insurance, state income tax, federal tax, FICA, and a 6% 401k contribution to get to a true net number. It's why a state like TX (no state income tax) shakes out differently than UT (4.65%), even when the housing costs are similar.

State	Minimum Income
NJ	$360,805
CT	$325,250
VT	$323,233
NE	$321,308
IL	$320,006
WI	$308,993
NY	$308,756
KS	$305,502
MN	$305,335
IA	$300,567
RI	$296,527
TX	$293,640
ME	$292,363
OR	$291,064
OK	$286,844
MI	$286,574
CA	$283,712
OH	$283,635
MA	$279,724
NH	$279,161
PA	$277,893
MD	$277,538
GA	$274,106
MO	$273,545
HI	$273,042
NM	$272,168
MT	$272,168
MS	$270,581
AR	$269,081
VA	$267,923
SD	$267,142
FL	$266,162
KY	$265,789
SC	$264,750
NC	$263,446
LA	$263,099
DE	$262,759
ND	$262,207
ID	$262,089
CO	$260,263
IN	$260,088
WV	$256,671
AK	$254,798
AL	$254,052
UT	$253,290
AZ	$250,725
WA	$245,378
TN	$242,130
WY	$237,907
NV	$235,958

Part 3: The 30%-of-your-gross rule

A popular middle-ground rule of thumb. It doesn't account for taxes or savings. just a flat 30% of your gross income going toward the housing payment.

State	Minimum Income
NJ	$168,803
IL	$166,803
TX	$166,303
CT	$163,969
NE	$163,136
NH	$159,136
VT	$158,636
KS	$158,469
NY	$157,136
IA	$155,803
WI	$155,303
RI	$153,803
OH	$153,636
MI	$153,303
SD	$152,969
FL	$152,469
OK	$152,303
PA	$151,803
ME	$149,303
MA	$148,469
MN	$148,469
AK	$146,636
MO	$145,969
MD	$145,803
ND	$145,303
GA	$144,969
MS	$144,136
KY	$143,969
AR	$143,636
IN	$143,136
NM	$142,969
MT	$142,969
OR	$142,469
NC	$142,303
LA	$142,136
WA	$141,803
VA	$141,303
CA	$140,803
CO	$140,469
TN	$140,136
AZ	$139,636
ID	$138,469
SC	$138,469
WY	$137,969
WV	$137,303
DE	$137,136
NV	$136,969
UT	$136,636
AL	$136,303
HI	$132,469

Part 4: Combined so you can see it all side by side

State	Lender	30% Gross	25% Net
NJ	$101,302	$168,803	$360,805
IL	$100,102	$166,803	$320,006
TX	$99,801	$166,303	$293,640
CT	$98,401	$163,969	$325,250
NE	$97,901	$163,136	$321,308
NH	$95,501	$159,136	$279,161
VT	$95,201	$158,636	$323,233
KS	$95,101	$158,469	$305,502
NY	$94,300	$157,136	$308,756
IA	$93,500	$155,803	$300,567
WI	$93,200	$155,303	$308,993
RI	$92,300	$153,803	$296,527
OH	$92,200	$153,636	$283,635
MI	$92,000	$153,303	$286,574
SD	$91,800	$152,969	$267,142
FL	$91,500	$152,469	$266,162
OK	$91,400	$152,303	$286,844
PA	$91,100	$151,803	$277,893
ME	$89,599	$149,303	$292,363
MN	$89,099	$148,469	$305,335
MA	$89,099	$148,469	$279,724
AK	$87,999	$146,636	$254,798
MO	$87,599	$145,969	$273,545
MD	$87,499	$145,803	$277,538
ND	$87,199	$145,303	$262,207
GA	$86,999	$144,969	$274,106
MS	$86,499	$144,136	$270,581
KY	$86,399	$143,969	$265,789
AR	$86,199	$143,636	$269,081
IN	$85,899	$143,136	$260,088
MT	$85,799	$142,969	$272,168
NM	$85,799	$142,969	$272,168
OR	$85,499	$142,469	$291,064
NC	$85,399	$142,303	$263,446
LA	$85,299	$142,136	$263,099
WA	$85,099	$141,803	$245,378
VA	$84,798	$141,303	$267,923
CA	$84,498	$140,803	$283,712
CO	$84,298	$140,469	$260,263
TN	$84,098	$140,136	$242,130
AZ	$83,798	$139,636	$250,725
ID	$83,098	$138,469	$262,089
SC	$83,098	$138,469	$264,750
WY	$82,798	$137,969	$237,907
WV	$82,398	$137,303	$256,671
DE	$82,298	$137,136	$262,759
NV	$82,198	$136,969	$235,958
UT	$81,998	$136,636	$253,290
AL	$81,798	$136,303	$254,052
HI	$79,497	$132,469	$273,042

one other thought that people will be sure to mention: median home prices in each state are different too. A $500k home in TX is very different from a $500k home in Hawaii. Should be a given, but people will mention it anyway.

Hope it helps!

Sam

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer if you want to check it out

I write educational posts, and even posted my entire homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer if you want to check it out.

I'm taking this from a higher activity sub and giving my opinion here. This is what the user posted:

>As a buyer, can I refuse to remove loan contingency?

>I'm in California, buying a home using VA Loan.

>Seller agree to do termite treatment as a requirement for VA Loan section1. However seller will not let the termite work to be completed unless I release loan contingency. the loan contingency expires soon within the next few days.

>I want to buy the house but I don't want to put my earnest deposit at risk. I'm concerns that if I release contingency. God forbid, for whatever reasons, the termite work got delayed, or not done. then VA can't fund my loan. I'd lose the deposit.

>what happens when the loan contingency expired? what happened if I don't sign the contingency removal?

From the seller's point of view, they don't want to do the work 'for nothing.'

I'm not saying the work is for nothing, because termites should be treated regardless. But the sellers might think that they can sell it to someone else without doing the work.

VA loans enforce termite inspections, where it's a little more loose on other loan programs.

So in their mind, if they pay something, they want some assurances that they will be either compensated by your earnest money, or compensated with the completion of the sale.

You might consider releasing some of your earnest money, not all of it, as nonrefundable if they do the termite inspection.

If they refuse to do the termite inspection, then it won't pass a VA loan, you can get a denial letter, walk away and likely recover your earnest money deposit.

Sam

I write educational posts, and even posted my entire homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer if you want to check it out.