Buy a home
What home price fits your life—not just your approval?
This calculator puts two ceilings side by side: a lender-style debt-to-income ceiling and the monthly housing budget you choose. It includes editable tax, insurance, HOA, maintenance and PMI assumptions.
How it works
Formula, sources, and limits
The calculator searches for the highest price whose monthly cost fits each chosen ceiling. Monthly principal and interest use standard fixed-rate amortization:
payment = loan × r(1+r)^n / ((1+r)^n − 1)
What this does: compares two transparent scenarios under your own assumptions. What it does not do: predict a lender approval, quote a rate, estimate a local tax bill or insurance premium, or tell you what you should buy.
Tax, insurance, HOA, PMI and maintenance remain editable because they can vary substantially by property, lender and location. See our source register and public limits.
Next useful calculator: True Monthly Home Cost — test a specific home once you have a target price.
Who this is for
Two ceilings, because two different questions are being asked
Use this calculator before you have a specific home in mind — when the question is "what price range should I even be looking in," not "does this one house work." A lender's pre-approval answers a debt-to-income question: how much can you borrow. Your own monthly budget answers a different question: how much you actually want this specific expense to cost once HOA dues, maintenance, and mortgage insurance are added in. Buyers who skip the second number often qualify for more than they want to spend.
A worked example, using the figures already in this calculator
With the default household ($120,000 gross annual income, $600 in other monthly debt) and the default loan assumptions on this page, gross income works out to $10,000 a month. At a 43% lender DTI ceiling, that leaves about $3,700 a month available for housing debt after other debts. Searching for the price whose principal, interest, tax, insurance, and PMI equal that number lands on a lender-style maximum price near $524,500.
Now apply the buyer's own ceiling: a $3,000 monthly housing budget, with maintenance included this time. The highest price that fits comes out to about $380,400 — roughly $144,000 lower than the lender-style number, and it needs about $57,000 down at 15%. Neither number is wrong; they answer different questions. This example is illustrative only — change any input and both prices recalculate.
How to read your result
If the real-life budget maximum is close to the lender-style maximum, your DTI and your personal budget broadly agree, and price is the main lever left to pull. If the gap is large — as in the example above — a lender may approve you for a price your own budget would not comfortably support once HOA, maintenance, and PMI are counted. In that case the lower of the two numbers is the more conservative starting point for a home search, not the higher one.
What this calculator does not include
- An actual lender approval, credit decision, or rate quote — DTI ceilings and underwriting rules vary by lender, loan program, and compensating factors such as reserves or credit history.
- County-specific property tax bills or a real insurance quote — the tax and insurance fields are editable planning percentages, not a lookup.
- Utilities, HOA special assessments, private mortgage insurance removal timing, or closing costs beyond the down payment shown on the results panel.
- Income taxes, other savings goals, or anything about your budget outside the housing payment itself.
Why the result is an estimate, not a quote
Every figure here is arithmetic performed in your browser on the numbers you typed in. Nothing is fetched from a lender, county, or insurer, so the result can only be as accurate as the tax rate, insurance premium, PMI rate, and DTI ceiling you entered. Treat both prices as a starting range to bring to a lender and to your own budget, not as a number to make an offer on.
Common mistakes
- Shopping at the lender-style maximum price without checking whether the real-life budget maximum supports it too.
- Leaving the PMI field at 0% while also entering a down payment under 20%, which understates the lender-style payment.
- Using a national or state-average tax and insurance rate for an offer, instead of the county assessor's rate and an actual insurance quote.
- Forgetting that "Lender DTI ceiling" is a planning assumption you are choosing, not a number a lender has promised you.
Related guides and calculators
- True Monthly Home Cost calculator — once you have a target price, see the full monthly breakdown.
- Cash to Close calculator — the cash needed on closing day at either price.
- Buyer cost checklist — costs to verify before and after you settle on a price range.
- Questions to ask a lender — confirm the DTI ceiling and rate this calculator only lets you assume.
Method reviewed August 13, 2026. Planning math only — not a lender qualification. Sources and corrections.