Fundamento

How much house can I afford?

We compute three numbers: what a lender will approve, what's actually comfortable at your real cash flow, and what breaks if rates jump to 7%. The gap between them is your margin of safety.

Your finances
The home
Pressure tests
Saved scenarios sync to your dashboard.

Your numbers

Loan amount $382,500 $67,500 down (15%)
Monthly P&I $2,466 at 6.69% for 30 yrs
Full PITI/mo $3,305 incl. tax, ins, HOA, PMI
PITI at 7.50% $3,514 $209 more / month

How a lender sees you

Front-end ratio 33.0% housing ÷ gross income · target ≤28%
Back-end ratio 39.0% all debt ÷ gross income · target ≤36%
Stress front-end 35.1% housing at 7.50% rate
PITI vs. take-home 44.1% est. take-home $7,500/mo

Cash to close

You have $80,000 in savings; you need about $81,000 all-in. You're $1,000 short — either save more, lower the price, or reduce the down payment percentage.

Credit

Excellent credit. You should qualify for the best advertised rates.

Verdict: At $450,000 this is a stretch. It sits inside the expanded 35/43 bands some lenders allow — though actual approval depends on your credit profile, reserves, and loan program — and it leaves limited margin if rates rise or you have a few bad months. Consider lowering the price target by 10–15%.

Next step

Get rate quotes from 3 lenders Soft pull; responses within 24 hours. Partner link — Fundamento may be compensated. Partners have no bearing on the directory or on which firms are vetted. Foreign-national mortgage — no US credit required For LatAm buyers of US property. Partner link — Fundamento may be compensated. Partners have no bearing on the directory or on which firms are vetted.

What to try next

Related answers in the Library

Renting vs. buying — which actually wins

The price-to-rent test, the 5-year break-even, and the discipline behind "rent and invest the difference."

The home buying process — and what surprises people

30–45 day timeline, 4–6% above down payment for total cash to close, and the costs most buyers don't budget for.

What drives mortgage rates (and what doesn't)

Mortgage rates follow the 10-year Treasury + a spread. The Fed doesn't directly set them.

Guided path — I want to buy my first home

The full 7-step sequence from affordability through agent selection and the climate check.
Want this saved between visits?

Pro saves your scenarios, watches your ZIP for rate & price moves, and includes a $99 single-decision PDF every quarter. Founding members: $99/year for life.

See Pro pricing
How the math works (plain English)

Lenders look at two ratios. The front-end ratio is your monthly housing payment divided by gross monthly income — they want it under about 28%. The back-end ratio is the same number plus all your other monthly debt — they want that under about 36% (sometimes stretched to 43%).

We compute the monthly mortgage payment using the standard amortization formula, then add property tax, insurance, HOA, and PMI (if your down payment is under 20%). That's "PITI" — Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance — the number that actually has to clear your bank account every month.

The stress test re-runs the same math at a higher rate. If the stress-tested PITI eats more than 35–40% of your take-home, you're buying at the edge. A rate jump or a single bad month becomes existential.