Taxes & Insurance When Buying a House

"Hello, my name is Brett Staggs, and on behalf of Expert Village, I'm going to be telling you how much you can afford for a first time home buyer. When applying for your first home loan, and you're trying to figure out how much house you can actually afford per month, one thing you need to keep in mind is that when you do go to buy a home, you will have to factor in taxes and insurance. Taxes depends on what county, what city, and what state you live in. Depending on where you live within those confines, the taxes you're going to pay each month are going to be different. So be sure to look at the county records, or whoever you're working with at the bank should be able to help you with this. You can simply ask them, hey, this is the house I'm looking at, what are the taxes like in this area? They should be able to tell you and it will give you a better idea of how to budget and how much you will actually have. The other thing you have to keep in mind is when you do buy a home, you will have to get home insurance, it's required. So insurance is the other thing you need to keep in mind, and although it's not that expensive, you want to make sure you find a good source for that insurance. Again, ask whoever you're working with, say, hey can you recommend to me a good place to get home insurance? Usually they'll have a number of different people you can call. You can get a quote on what the rate might be, you can decide for yourself, does this make sense, is this a good deal because you will be required to get it so it's really important to find a good, safe, and reliable home insurance policy. Again, it's not that expensive, but it is going to be an expense when you do have a home."