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Why More Women are Buying Homes Alone. Can you afford the sort of place you want?

Can you afford the sort of place you want?
One problem we've seen over the past couple years of low interest rates is people buying more home than they can afford. They strap themselves with a mortgage payment that stretches them to the limit — don't budget for maintenance — and when the first thing goes wrong with the home, they're in over their heads. If you can't afford the sort of place you want to buy — with a loan that does more than pay your interest — you may want to wait until you can put down a more substantial down payment.

Is your credit in decent shape?
Unless you have a credit score of 660CK or above, you'll pay above average rates to finance your purchase. Check your credit score at myfico.com before you start looking around and figure out if it needs work.

Jean Chatzky is the financial editor for “Today,” editor-at-large at Money Magazine and the author of “Talking Money: Everything You Need to Know About Your Finances and Your Future.” Copyright © 2004. For more information, go to her Web site, www.JeanChatzky.com.
© 2005 MSNBC Interactive

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