Mortgage Affordability Calculator
Estimate the maximum affordable mortgage using separate front-end and back-end DTI ratios with loan-program presets, including property tax, insurance, and HOA.
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Max Affordable Home Price
$317,416
Max Loan Amount
$287,416
Max Total Housing Payment (PITI)
$2,217
Max Principal & Interest
$1,817
How Mortgage Affordability Is Calculated Here
This calculator estimates mortgage approval using separate front-end and back-end debt-to-income (DTI) ratios, the same framing lenders use, but goes a step further by rolling property tax, homeowners insurance, and HOA fees into the housing payment (PITI) before solving for the loan itself. Quick presets fill in the DTI limits typically used for Conventional, FHA, and VA loans, since each program allows a different maximum ratio. The stricter of the front-end and back-end limits sets your maximum total housing payment, and subtracting taxes, insurance, and HOA from that leaves the principal-and-interest budget used to size the loan.
Max Principal & Interest = Max PITI − (Property Tax + Insurance + HOA)
Example
With a $95,000 income, $350 in other debts, a Conventional 28/36 DTI, and $400/month in combined property tax, insurance, and HOA, the back-end limit allows about $2,499/month in total housing costs. Subtracting the $400 in taxes and insurance leaves about $2,099 for principal and interest, supporting a maximum home price in the high-$300,000s at a 6.5% rate over 30 years.
Common Use Cases
- Comparing what you could qualify for under Conventional, FHA, and VA DTI rules.
- Getting a more realistic home price estimate that accounts for taxes, insurance, and HOA.
- Preparing for a mortgage pre-approval conversation with lender-style ratios.
- Seeing how a high HOA fee or property tax rate eats into your loan-eligible budget.
FAQs
Why include property tax, insurance, and HOA at all?
Lenders qualify borrowers based on the full housing payment (PITI: principal, interest, taxes, insurance), not principal and interest alone. Leaving those costs out overstates how large a loan you can actually qualify for, since they eat directly into your allowed housing budget.
Why does the VA preset have no front-end limit?
VA loans generally don't enforce a strict front-end (housing-only) ratio the way Conventional and FHA loans do — they primarily rely on a back-end (total debt) ratio, commonly around 41%, alongside residual income requirements not modeled here.
How is this different from a general house affordability calculator?
This tool is built specifically around the mortgage-approval process: adjustable front-end and back-end ratios with loan-program presets, plus taxes, insurance, and HOA rolled into the payment — closer to how an underwriter actually sizes a loan than a simple price-to-income estimate.