When you work with MMS Mortgage Services, we make it simple and easy for you to apply for a mortgage. While we take care of the hard work of helping you find the right home loan, you get to focus on your home search.

Along with seeking a home that meets your needs in terms of square footage, layout and features, you should also be thinking about its location. Let’s go over some things it is useful to have relatively close to the home you purchase.

What it is Good to Live Nearby?

1. Amenities. To make it fast and easy to take care of everyday needs, it is good to buy a home close to grocery stores, department stores, restaurants, coffee shops, pharmacies, banks, and so forth.
2. Good schools. If you have or plan to have children, choosing a home in a great school district is very important.
3. A reasonable distance from major highways and public transit options. To minimize your commute times, it is useful to be able to get onto a major highway and/or public transit systems such as busses or metro rail fairly quickly.
4. A hospital. Especially as you get older, having a hospital within a reasonable drive of your home is a smart idea. You do not want to have to travel hours to get urgent medical attention.
5. Walking areas. If you like to go out for walks in your neighborhood, then you might want to look for a house that offers you some good areas to walk, whether they are urban, suburban or rural. For some people, this might just be a regular block with a wide sidewalk. Others might look for hiking trails in parks.
6. Your job. If you work outside of your home, buying a house that is relatively close to your place of work can make a huge quality of life difference. The time you save on your daily commute will really add up.
7. Picturesque views. If you can afford it, you might want to buy a home that offers you some lovely views of your surroundings. Of course, if you are going to be living in an area that you do not find aesthetically pleasing, you do not need to worry about this.
8. Your community. Finally, if you have family or friends in your area who are likely to live where they are for a long time, it may make sense for you to buy a home close to theirs. That way, it is easy to get together.

Buy a Home with a Competitive Mortgage

By shopping for a home in an area that offers what we went over above, you will be able to enjoy plenty of convenience in your daily life. In our next post, we will go over some things you do not want too close to your new home. See What Do You Want to Live Nearby, and What Should You Avoid? Part 2.

If you are ready to buy a home with a competitive mortgage, please give us a call at (248) 788-0800 to schedule your consultation. We can help you buy a home in Michigan or 14 other states.

When you are applying for a mortgage, one important metric used to assess your qualifications is your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio.

There are actually two different types of DTIs: your back-end DTI and your front-end DTI. Let’s explain the difference between them.

What is Front-End DTI?

With both types of DTI ratios, we are comparing your gross income to your debts. But with front-end DTI, we are only looking at how your gross income compares to your housing expenses. Other types of expenses are not taken into account.

Here are some of the types of expenses that factor into calculating your front-end DTI ratio:

• Mortgage payment
• Mortgage insurance
• Homeowner’s insurance
• Homeowner’s association fees
• Property taxes

What is Back-End DTI?

Back-end DTI is more comprehensive than front-end DTI. Back-end DTI compares your gross income to all of your monthly recurring debts. These include the following:

• All of the housing expenses listed above
• Vehicle loans
• Student loans
• Child support
• Alimony
• Credit card debt
• Lines of credit
• Personal loans
• Other types of lease payments
• Rental payments

As you can see, neither type of DTI ratio includes one-off expenses, even if you have to make them regularly, i.e. your groceries. Utilities and insurance unrelated to your home do not count either, even though these are recurring bills. Nor do you include your taxes. None of these are considered “debt,” even though they impact your finances and what you can afford.

Don’t forget to account for those additional expenses when you are calculating how much house you can afford; do not just rely on the DTI ratio.

Apply for a Flexible Home Loan

Now you know what goes into calculating both types of DTI ratios: front-end and back-end. If you are looking for advice on how you can lower your DTI ratio, see, “Tips to Improve Your Debt-to-Income (DTI) Ratio When Applying for a Mortgage.”

Ready to apply for a mortgage? We can help you buy a home with a flexible, affordable mortgage. Please give us a call at (248) 788-0800 to schedule your consultation. We can help you buy a home in Michigan or 15 other states.