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 the payment becomes at your stress rate. 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 $2,617 at 7.28% for 30 yrs
Full PITI/mo $3,456 incl. tax, ins, HOA, PMI
PITI at 7.50% $3,514 $57 more / month

How a lender sees you

Front-end ratio 34.6% housing ÷ gross income · target ≤28%
Back-end ratio 40.6% all debt ÷ gross income · target ≤36%
Stress front-end 35.1% housing at 7.50% rate
PITI vs. take-home 46.1% 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 passes 35% of your gross monthly income, you're buying at the edge. A rate jump or a single bad month becomes existential.