See the max home price you can actually afford — anchored to the 28/36 rule, your real debts, and today's mortgage rates.
Free home-buying budget planner that uses lender-grade front-end and back-end DTI caps, full PITI math (taxes, insurance, HOA), and your real down-payment cash to find a price you can live with.
Direct answers to the most common questions, in plain language. Skim if you're in a hurry; dig deeper below.
Spend at most 28% of gross income on housing, 36% on all debts.
The 28/36 rule says your monthly housing payment (PITI: principal, interest, taxes, insurance) should be at most 28% of your gross monthly income, and your total monthly debt payments — including the mortgage — should be at most 36%. Most conventional lenders use a close variant of this rule when sizing your loan.
Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance — the full monthly cost of a home.
PITI is the all-in monthly cost of owning a financed home: mortgage principal and interest, property taxes (escrowed monthly), and homeowners insurance. Lenders compare PITI plus HOA against your income, not just principal and interest, which is why a low rate alone does not guarantee affordability.
Cap PITI by income, subtract taxes and insurance, solve for the loan, add your down payment.
The calculator finds the smaller of your front-end cap (28% of gross income for housing) and your back-end cap (36% of gross income minus existing debts). It subtracts monthly property taxes, insurance, and HOA to get the maximum principal and interest payment, then solves the amortization formula for the loan balance. Adding your down payment cash gives the maximum home price.
Whichever one is smaller. Usually back-end if you carry car or student loans.
Front-end DTI looks only at the housing payment. Back-end DTI includes the housing payment plus every other monthly debt (car loans, student loans, credit card minimums). Buyers with no other debt are usually limited by the front-end ratio; buyers carrying debts are almost always limited by the back-end ratio.
The mechanics in short answers — no jargon, no upsell.
Front-end DTI says your monthly housing payment can be at most ~28% of gross monthly income. This is the housing-only ceiling.
Back-end DTI says your housing payment plus every other monthly debt (cars, student loans, credit card minimums) can be at most ~36% of gross income. Other debts steal headroom.
The calculator takes the smaller of front-end and back-end, subtracts monthly taxes, insurance, and HOA, and what is left is the most you can spend on principal and interest each month.
Given that max P&I payment, the interest rate, and the term, the calculator solves for the loan balance — then adds your down payment cash to get the maximum home price.
Designed so anyone can model their situation in under a minute, with or without a finance background.
Uses the same front-end and back-end DTI caps lenders actually use, not a vague multiple of income.
Property taxes, homeowners insurance, and HOA dues are subtracted before solving for your loan, just like underwriting.
Plug in a real rate quote from a lender or aggregator and see how the max price moves dollar-for-dollar.
Defaults to the conservative side of the 28/36 band so you keep room for emergencies, life changes, and joy.
See the conservative, standard, and aggressive maximum prices side-by-side so you can pick a number you sleep through.
Shows down payment as a percentage of the max price so a 5% or 20% down payment instantly tells the truth about price.
Everything you might ask before, during, or after using this tool.
Yes. Lender DTI caps have not loosened materially — conventional loans still target roughly 28% front-end and 36% back-end, with some flexibility up to 43% back-end for stronger applicants. The 28/36 rule remains a sensible default for self-checking affordability before you talk to a lender.
Usually no. The number is the most lenders will allow, not the most you should spend. Buying near the cap leaves little room for repairs, rate increases at refinance, or a temporary income drop. A conservative 25% front-end ratio is a much more livable target for most buyers.
Because existing debts subtract directly from the budget available for a mortgage. A $500/month car loan reduces your maximum monthly housing payment by $500 at the back-end cap, which in turn reduces your maximum loan by tens of thousands of dollars.
Not by default. If your down payment is below 20% on a conventional loan, expect private mortgage insurance to add roughly 0.3% to 1.5% of the loan amount per year. You can approximate it by adding it to the homeowners insurance input, or use a dedicated PMI calculator.
Use your state or county effective rate. The national average is around 1.0% of home value per year, but it ranges from under 0.5% in low-tax states to over 2% in high-tax counties. A quick search for "[your county] effective property tax rate" gets a number accurate enough for this calculator.
The US average is about $1,500 to $2,500 per year for a typical single-family home, with wide regional variation. Coastal and wildfire-exposed areas can be multiples of that. Get a real quote before you finalize a budget — insurance has been the fastest-growing component of PITI.
No. Keep three to six months of expenses untouched after closing. The down payment cash you enter here should be money you can spend without compromising your emergency reserve, moving costs, and immediate post-move repairs.
A 15-year loan amortizes the same balance in half the time, so the monthly P&I is meaningfully higher even at a slightly lower rate. The 15-year option saves enormous interest over time but cuts the home price you qualify for at the same income.
Other Lazysmirk tools that pair well with this one.
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Estimate your total US mortgage closing costs — lender fees, title, government taxes, and prepaids — and find out exactly how much cash you need to close.
Compare the true financial outcome of buying a home vs renting and investing the difference, year by year, with a break-even chart and clear recommendation.
See monthly PMI cost, when it cancels at 78% LTV, and total PMI paid over the life of the loan.
When people ask "how much house can I afford," they are usually asking two different questions at once. One is "how big a loan will a bank give me," and the other is "how big a payment can I actually live with." Those are not the same number, and pretending they are is how buyers end up house-poor.
The 28/36 rule answers the first question with reasonable precision. The second question is personal — it depends on your goals, your taste for risk, and your tolerance for a tight month. This calculator gives you the lender's number first, then shows you what a more conservative target looks like in the comparison table below.
Most calculators online give you a principal-and-interest number and stop there. That is dangerous because P&I is only part of what shows up on your statement each month. The full picture, called PITI, has four components: principal, interest, property taxes, and homeowners insurance. If the home is in an HOA, add that as a fifth line.
Why this matters: in many parts of the US, taxes and insurance together can be a third of the total monthly payment. A buyer who budgets only for P&I is going to be unpleasantly surprised the first month their escrow account gets funded. This calculator does the math the way underwriting does it — taxes, insurance, and HOA come off the top before the loan is sized.
Front-end DTI is the ratio of just your housing payment to your gross monthly income. The traditional cap is 28%. Back-end DTI is the ratio of all your monthly debt payments — housing plus cars, student loans, credit card minimums, everything — to your gross income. The traditional cap is 36%.
The lender uses whichever cap binds. If you have no other debt, you will usually hit the front-end cap first. If you carry a car loan and student loans, the back-end cap almost always binds first, and that is when buyers are surprised by how much the existing debt has eaten into their home budget. The calculator shows you which one binds.
Buying near the top of your approved range used to be more forgiving because rates were low and incomes generally grew faster than total cost. In 2026, neither of those things is reliably true. Property taxes have re-set higher in many states, insurance premiums have risen sharply, and rates are well above the 2021 lows. The "stretch a little" advice from a decade ago no longer ages well.
Practical rule: if hitting your maximum approved price means you cannot also fund retirement contributions, keep an emergency fund, and absorb a single bad month, you are looking at too much house. Take the conservative number in the comparison table seriously.
Two short notes worth reading before you trust any number on this page.
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We are not a bank, NBFC, advisor, broker, or distributor of any financial product. The numbers shown here are estimates for educational purposes only, based on the inputs you provide.
Results are not financial, legal, or tax advice. Please consult a qualified professional before any decision about your loan, investments, or personal finances. Actual loan terms and charges depend on your bank and individual circumstances.
