Huntsville Real Estate Consumer Tips
Submitted by: Kimberly Grant, Huntsville Real Estate Agent
Huntsville / Madison Alabama Real Estate Blog

A very frequent question I receive from Huntsville home buyers is "How do I know how much my payment will be?"  I thought this was a great question to address in my consumer tips this week.  When you're thinking of buying a home in Huntsville or any other city, the monthly payment is one of the things you want to consider. When you have a mortgage, you'll have several different portions of your payment each month.

Your mortgage payment consists of principal, interest, taxes and insurance (sometimes abbreviated as "PITI"). You can sometimes also have additional fees, such as homeowners association dues.

Principal is the money you borrowed to purchase the home.  Interest is the cost of borrowing money. Taxes are paid by homeowners and are usually a percentage of the assessed property value. Insurance helps protect against financial loss from fire, natural disasters or other hazards. Most lenders require you to have a homeowner's insurance policy on your home because it will help protect their investment as well as yours.  This can be a separate fee or sometimes it can be added to the monthly mortgage payment.

Remember, many loan quotes will only include your principal and interest. You'll also need to factor in the taxes and insurance to calculate your total monthly mortgage payment.  Feel free to use my mortgage calculator to help you determine loan amounts, mortgage qualification, affordability or whether you should be renting or buying.

When you're ready to take the next step to buying your Huntsville home, please give me a call. I'll be happy to explain the process further and help you narrow your home search. 

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