I was looking at houses in the wrong price range for six months

My realtor in Charlotte finally sat me down last week and showed me the real numbers after taxes and insurance. I had been looking at $350k houses thinking I could just barely afford them, but my actual monthly payment would have been over $2,400. I was using the listing price alone and ignoring everything else. Has anyone else had a realtor give them a similar reality check?

3 comments

3 Comments

dianawilson25d agoMost Upvoted

Honestly that's on you for not doing the basic math yourself. A realtor's job is to find you a house, not be your personal finance teacher. You should have known your own budget before you even started looking.

pat_harris25d ago

You mentioned a realtor's job being to find a house, not teach finance. That reminds me of when my nephew was buying his first place. He got so caught up in the listings his realtor sent that he forgot to check the property taxes. Ended up in a beautiful condo, but the monthly fees were a shock. He learned the hard way that you really do have to run all the numbers yourself, even when you're excited.

derekn1825d ago

Totally feel that! I did the same thing as @pat_harris's nephew, so now I make a simple spreadsheet with all the extra costs before I even look.