When house shopping it can be easy to fall in love with the biggest and nicest home on the block. However, it is important to make sure that you get a mortgage that is affordable, meaning that it might be a better idea to look for a more modest home. These are a few reasons why this can be a much smarter move.

It Can Make Your Home a Burden, Not Something That You Enjoy

First of all, you probably want your home to be something that you can be proud of, but you probably also want it to be something that you enjoy. A home that has too big of a mortgage payment can be more of a burden than a pleasure. Having an expensive mortgage might make it more difficult for you to do things like go on vacation every year or go out to dinner every once in a while. If you have to put every penny toward your mortgage, then you will probably find that things won't be very fun after awhile.

It Could Put You at Greater Risk of Foreclosure

Another thing that you have to think about is the potential of losing your house. If you go with a smaller mortgage, you can increase the chances of being able to keep up with the payments in the event that things go awry financially. If you're barely struggling to make your mortgage payment from month to month, however, it can be easy to fall behind when things go wrong financially in other areas of your life.

You Might Have Trouble Keeping Up With Maintenance

Maintaining a house is not cheap. If you choose a bigger, newer house, you will probably have less money to spend, but you will probably have higher maintenance costs overall than if you had a smaller house. Making sure that you can afford all of the costs that go along with having a house, including the mortgage, is important.

As you can see, it really is important not to get too big of a mortgage when buying a house. Instead, take the time to write out a budget, and make sure that you look at different loan programs and mortgage rates to determine what you can afford and what you qualify for. Then, you can help ensure that you buy a house that won't have a mortgage that is too expensive.