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Calculator 03

Affordability Calculator

Income, debts and cash to a price range — with the constraint that binds named on the page. Illustrative figures only.

Your money
Gross, per year, before tax
$
Cars, cards, student loans — minimums only
$
For down payment and closing costs
$
Under 20% adds PMI
%
The loan and the limits
Illustrative, not a quote
%
years
All debts, including the new housing payment
%
Housing payment only
%
% / yr
Per month, 0 if none
$
Which limit binds
Price ceiling from each testTotal debt-to-income$551kHousing-cost ratio$457kCash to close$427k — this is the limit

Three independent ceilings. The lowest one is your budget, and it is outlined and named in words on the chart — never signalled by colour alone.

Estimated maximum price

$427,350

A ceiling, not a target. Illustrative estimate only.

  • Loan amount$363,247
  • Down payment$64,103
  • Cash to close$75,000
  • Monthly housing$3,197
What stops youCash to close

Cash is the limit, not income. $75,000 covers a 15% down payment plus about 3% of the loan in closing costs — and stops there.

Your income would support more. The options are to save longer, to lower the down payment percentage (which usually means mortgage insurance, so the monthly figure rises), or to look at down payment assistance and gift funds. Try dropping the down payment field and watch which constraint takes over.

  • Resulting total DTI35%
  • Resulting housing ratio29%
  • Housing budget$3,410
That payment, itemised
  • Principal & interest$2,296 72%
  • Property tax$570 18%
  • Homeowners insurance$150 5%
  • Mortgage insurance (PMI)$182 6%

Illustrative figures. Every number on this page — including the rates in the default values — is an illustration produced from the inputs above. Nothing here is a quote, a rate lock, an APR, a Loan Estimate or an offer of credit.

What this page assumes. Gross income before tax, minimum monthly payments on other debts, illustrative homeowners insurance of $1,800 a year, PMI charged while the loan is above 80% of the price, closing costs of about 3% of the loan, and the ratio caps you set above. Underwriting guidelines differ by program and by lender.

This calculator provides estimates for educational purposes only. Results are not a Loan Estimate, pre-approval, or commitment to lend, and may not reflect taxes, insurance, HOA dues, or other costs. Contact a loan officer for an accurate quote.

Rates shown are for illustrative purposes only, are not a quote or guarantee, and do not reflect a specific offer. Actual rates depend on credit score, loan amount, loan-to-value, occupancy, and other factors, and change daily. Contact us for a personalized rate quote.

Share this resultSection 03

Your inputs live in this page’s web address. Copy the link and whoever opens it lands on exactly these numbers — no account, no saved data, nothing tracked.

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Nothing is sent on this demonstration site. There is no mail server behind this button, no address is stored, and no one is emailed. It is here to show the interaction. To actually send these figures, usethis email link, which opens your own mail app with the link already in it.

That is the thank-you state.

And to be completely clear: no email was sent and your address was not stored or transmitted anywhere. This is a demonstration site. To send the figures for real, usethis email link.

Talk it throughSection 04

Have a loan officer look at these numbers

A calculator can only work with what you type. If you would like a person to sanity-check the assumptions, this is the form a real site would use.

This is a demonstration site. Submitting this form validates the fields and shows you the thank-you state, and that is all it does. Nothing is stored, nothing is transmitted, no one receives it and no one will call you. On a live site this exact form posts through a single function (submitLead()) into a CRM or webhook.

Thank you — that is the whole interaction.

Your details were validated and then discarded in your own browser.Nothing was stored and nothing was sent, so please do not wait for a call. If you would like to reach a real person about a real loan, the contact details on this site are the honest route.

The three tests, in plain terms

Back-end debt-to-income

Every monthly debt plus the new housing payment, against gross income. This is the test most people fail first, and the one that clearing a car loan fixes fastest.

Front-end housing ratio

Housing costs alone against gross income. It binds when you have almost no other debt, and programs vary in how strictly they apply it.

Cash to close

The one no ratio can argue with. Down payment plus closing costs has to come from somewhere, and gift funds and assistance programs have their own rules about where.

And one this page cannot test

Whether the payment leaves you room to live. Underwriting does not look at childcare, commuting, maintenance or saving for anything else. That test is yours.

The other calculators

All calculators

Calculator FAQ

Questions about affordability

How does this affordability calculator work?

It runs three separate tests and reports the lowest answer, along with which test produced it. The first is the back-end debt-to-income cap, which counts every monthly debt. The second is the front-end housing ratio, which counts only the housing payment. The third is simply the cash you have for the down payment and closing costs. Whichever runs out first is your real ceiling — and it is named on the page rather than hidden.

What is the 43% DTI rule?

Debt-to-income is total monthly debt payments divided by gross monthly income. Many conventional loans are underwritten around a 43% back-end cap, though the real limits vary by program and by the strength of the rest of the file — FHA and VA loans in particular can go higher with compensating factors. The cap here is a field you can change, precisely because it is not a single fixed number.

What counts as monthly debt?

Minimum payments on car loans, student loans, credit cards, personal loans, and court-ordered obligations such as child support. Utilities, groceries, insurance premiums outside escrow, phone bills and subscriptions do not count — which is why an approval can be technically correct and still feel unaffordable in practice.

Why does the answer change so much when I clear a small debt?

Because the test uses the monthly payment, not the balance. A $400 car payment consumes $400 of housing budget whether $2,000 or $20,000 is left on it, and at typical rates that $400 supports a substantial amount of loan. Paying off a small, high-payment debt often buys more house than the same money used as a down payment.

Is this a pre-approval?

No, and it should not be treated as one. This is an educational estimate from figures you typed in. A real pre-approval verifies income and assets, pulls credit, checks reserves and employment history, and is issued by a lender against a specific program. Nothing on this demonstration site can approve anything.

Should I borrow the maximum?

Almost certainly not. The maximum is the point where a lender stops saying yes, not the point where a household is comfortable. It ignores retirement saving, childcare, maintenance, and the fact that property tax and insurance both rise. Treat the figure as a ceiling to stay well under, not a target.

Ready to turn a ceiling into a plan?

A loan officer can tell you which programs would read your file differently — and what a pre-approval would actually say.

Get a Free QuoteCall (512) 555-0142