How to Determine a Price Range When Buying a Home?

Question: How do I determine a price range when buying a home?

Answer: The first thing is to determine how much can you spend: in total for a home and on a monthly basis.

To do that consider all your finances.  Take some time to write down all your income and expenses.  Where does the money go?

At this point you can determine what can stay and what your willing to sacrifice to buy the home.  If you're renting, remember, that homeownership has expenses in addition to the mortgage payment: repairs and deferred maintenance are two of them so be sure to consider them when making your budget.

When you look at what you've written down consider the sacrifices you're willing to make carefully.  Do you really want to stop doing those things or will you be irritated after a while?  

Consult a financial advisor.  As him or her to look over what you've put together.Importantly, don't overreach - it rarely works out and why stress yourself with additional financial pressure and hurt your lifestyle.  

Purchasing a home should be about improving your lifestyle not becoming burdened financially.