How Much Can I Mortgage My House For

Understand The Different Types Of Mortgages

Conventional loan: A conventional loan will allow you to get a home with as little as 3% down. Another big advantage of this option is if you’re moving to put down a little bit more, you can get a vacation home or investment property.

VA loan: A VA loan is a mortgage option available to United States veterans, service members and their non-remarried spouses. Theyre offered by traditional lenders and backed by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. VA loans are no-down-payment loans that offer more lenient credit and income requirements. Rocket Mortgage® requires a 620 median credit score.

FHA loan: An FHA loan is a loan that is backed by the Federal Housing Administration. If you have a lower credit score and less money for a down payment, you might qualify for an FHA loan. To qualify through Rocket Mortgage®, youll need a 580 median credit score and a 3.5% down payment.

Jumbo loan: Jumbo Smart loans allow you to get a loan amounts higher than $548,250, the current conforming loan limit. You’ll need a higher down payment, at least 10.01% for loans up to $2 million and a credit score of at least 680.

USDA Loan: A USDA loan is backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. You could be eligible for a USDA loan if you want property in a qualifying rural or suburban area and if youre a low-to-moderate income earner. You can get a USDA loan with no down payment.

Financial Obligations And Debt

While your income will be an important factor in determining how much house you can afford, lenders will look at your income relative to the amount of debt you maintain. Debt refers to regular payments that you have to make towards a loan, such as car payments, student loans, or other types of loans. Having debt is not a bad thing in fact, in many scenarios, it has a positive impact on your credit score it is simply a component of your finances that lenders will consider when going through the mortgage approval process.

Generally speaking, banks and lenders will take into account financial obligations that you will have for at least the next ten months.

How Much House Can I Afford

This DTI is in the affordable range. Youll have a comfortable cushion to cover things like food, entertainment and vacations.

*DTI is the main way lenders decide how much you can spend on a mortgage.

This DTI is in the affordable range. Youll have a comfortable cushion to cover things like food, entertainment and vacations.

*DTI is the main way lenders decide how much you can spend on a mortgage.

Also Check: What’s A Conventional Mortgage

How Can I Qualify To Borrow More

If youre disappointed by the how much can I borrow results, remember that there are many factors at work. Small improvements in one or more can make a substantial difference:

So Should I Buy A Home

The answer to that question depends on your financial status and your goals. Just because a lender is willing to give you money for a home doesnât necessarily mean that you have to jump into homeownership. Itâs a big responsibility that ties up a large amount of money for years.

Itâs important to remember that the mortgage lender is only telling you that you can buy a house, not that you should. Only you can decide whether you should make that purchase.

Also Check: What Is The Highest Interest Rate On Mortgage

Mortgage Calculator: How Much Can I Borrow

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This may influence which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list ofour partnersandhere’s how we make money.

Where Do You Want To Live

}, }

! Your browser does not support geolocation. Consider using another browser.

How much mortgage can I afford?

The first step in searching for your home is understanding how large of a mortgage you can afford. With a few inputs, you can determine how much mortgage you may be comfortable with and the potential price range of your future home. Knowing your total household income, how much youâve saved for a down payment, and your monthly expenses , plus new expenses youâd take on , you can get a reasonable estimate. Learn more about factors that can affect your mortgage affordability.

How to estimate affordability

To estimate mortgage affordability, lenders will use two standard debt service ratios: Gross Debt Service and Total Debt Service . According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation¹Note 1:

• – GDS is the percentage of your monthly household income that covers your housing costs . It should be at or under 35% of your pre-tax household income.

• – TDS is the percentage of your monthly household income that covers your housing costs and any other debts . It should be at or under 42% of your pre-tax income.

How your down payment affects affordability

The amount you have saved for a down payment is also another important piece of information to help determine affordability. Depending on the purchase price of a home, there are minimum amounts required for your down payment²Note 2:

Step 2 of 6

Also Check: What Does A Fixed Rate Mortgage Mean

Why Use A Mortgage Refinance Calculator

Refinancing your mortgage can be a really valuable option as a homeowner. However, there are costs associated with refinancing, which can outweight any potential savings you might make. As a result, it’s important to understand how much a mortgage refinance will cost you before you pull the trigger – that’s where a mortgage refinance calculator comes in handy.

The mortgage refinance calculator above will do the hard work for you, estimating the penalties associated with refinancing, as well as the potential savings you’ll make from getting a new mortgage at today’s rates. While there are some non-financial reason you might want to refinance your mortgage, our calculator gives you the information you need to start making a decision.

Will I Qualify For A Mortgage

To know if you will qualify for a mortgage based on your current income, try our Mortgage Required Income Calculator. You will need to supply information about the cost of the Mortgage, down-payment, interest rates, and other liabilities, after which the calculator responds with the required minimum income to qualify for the loan.

Read Also: What Does A Cosigner Do For A Mortgage

Why Calculate Mortgage Affordability

When you’re looking to buy a home, it’s handy to know how much you can afford. Being able to calculate an estimate of how much you’re able to borrow is an important part of setting your budget.

You also need to determine if you have enough cash resources to purchase a home. The cash required is derived from the down payment put towards the purchase price, as well as the closing costs that must be incurred to complete the purchase. We can help you estimate these closing costs with the first tab under the mortgage affordability calculator above.

Taken together, understand how large a mortgage you can afford to borrow and the cash requirements will help you determine what kind of home you should be on the look out for. To learn more about mortgage affordability, and how our calculator works, have a read of the information below.

How Much House Can You Afford

The table above used $600 as a benchmark for monthly debt payments, based on average $400 car payment and $200 in student loan or credit payments. The mortgage section assumes a 20% down payment on the home value. The payment reflects a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for a home located in Kansas City, Missouri. Plug your specific numbers into the calculator above to find your results. Since interest rates vary over time, you may see different results.

In practice that means that for every pre-tax dollar you earn each month, you should dedicate no more than 36 cents to paying off your mortgage, student loans, credit card debt and so on. This percentage also known as your debt-to-income ratio, or DTI. You can find yours by dividing your total monthly debt by your monthly pre-tax income.

Don’t Miss: Is 720 A Good Credit Score For Mortgage

Tips To Improve Your Dti Ratio

If you want to buy a home but you are carrying too much debt to qualify for a mortgage, you may first want to focus on improving your debt-to-income ratio. There arenât any tricks to decreasing your DTI. You have three main avenues to improve your DTI:

• Consolidate debt
• Pay off debt
• Increase income

If is holding you back from getting to 36%, you might want to consider a balance transfer. You can transfer your credit card balance to a and pay down your debt before the offer expires.

This means your money is going toward your actual debt and not interest on that debt. Itâs important to remember that if you donât manage to pay down the debt before the 0% APR offer ends, you might end up with a higher interest rate on your debt than you had before.

But if you can swing a balance transfer it might be able to help you fast-track your debt payment and get you to the debt-to-income ratio you need to qualify for a home purchase.

Your other two options, pay off debt and increase income, take time. Perhaps you need to make a budget and a plan to knock out some of your large student or car loans before you apply for a mortgage. Or you wait until you get a raise at work or change jobs to apply for a mortgage.

Can I Remortgage My House To Buy Another If I Recently Started A Job

Yes, there are lenders that will consider your application if you have recently started a new job. This is another area where criteria can vary greatly from lender to lender. Some will ask for a minimum of 12 months employment history while others are happy with 6 months, some lenders will insist on you completing any probationary period and some lenders are happy to lend from your first day in a new role.

There are even lenders that will consider a future contract within 3 months of the start date of a new job. A specialist broker will have a good understanding of the options available and the best lenders for your circumstances.

Don’t Miss: Are Online Mortgage Calculators Accurate

Money You Will Spend Beyond The Mortgage

When figuring out how much of a payment one can afford, there are other expenses that must be considered aside from the mortgage. These addition financial obligations can be:

• Home Maintenance: There will be some maintenance during ownership of the home. Appliances break down, carpet needs replaced, and roofing goes bad. Being overextended due to the mortgage can make repairs more of a burden.
• Utilities: These expenses keep the home heated, lit up, water running, and other items such as sewer, phone, and cable T.V. going.
• HOA Fees: If the community in which the borrower moves in has amenities, there may be Homeowners Association Fees that must be paid. The fees can vary based on what amenities the community is offering. Sometimes the price can be $100 per month or $100 per year.

Can I Include Overtime Payments When Calculating How Much I Can Borrow For A Mortgage

This depends on both how regular your overtime is and the attitude of the lender concerned. Some lenders will not consider any additional income you may receive through overtime, while others may accept all or 50% of this income. Any earnings from overtime to be included as part of your mortgage application will need to be regular or guaranteed and be evidenced.

If however overtime is something you only get occasionally then the lender may not take it into account at all. This is where a mortgage broker can help they will know which lenders are more likely to accept overtime as part of their income calculations.

Recommended Reading: Is Citizens Bank Good For Mortgages

Why You Should Wait To Buy A Home

Along the same lines of thinking, you might consider holding off on buying the house.

The bigger the down payment you can bring to the table, the smaller the loan you will have to pay interest on. In the long run, the largest portion of the price you pay for a house is typically the interest on the loan.

In the case of a 30-year mortgage the loanâs interest can add up to three or four times the listed price of the house . For the first 10 years of a 30-year mortgage, you could be paying almost solely on the interest and hardly making a dent in the principal on your loan.

Thatâs why it can make a significant difference if you make even small extra payments toward the principal, or start with a bigger down payment .

If you can afford a 15-year mortgage rather than a 30-year mortgage, your monthly payments will be higher, but your overall cost will be drastically lower because you wonât be paying nearly so much interest.

Three Homebuyers’ Financial Situations

House #1 is a 1930s-era three-bedroom ranch in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This 831 square-foot home has a wonderful backyard and includes a two-car garage. The house is a deal at a listing price of just $135,000. So who can afford this house?

Analysis: All three of our homebuyers can afford this one. For Teresa and Martin, who can both afford a 20% down payment , the monthly payment will be around $800, well within their respective budgets. Paul and Grace can afford to make a down payment of $7,000, just over 5% of the home value, which means theyâll need a mortgage of about $128,000. In Ann Arbor, their mortgage, tax and insurance payments will be around $950 dollars a month. Combined with their debt payments, that adds up to $1,200 â or around 34% of their income.

House #2 is a 2,100-square-foot home in San Jose, California. Built in 1941, it sits on a 10,000-square-foot lot, and has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Itâs listed for $820,000, but could probably be bought for $815,000. So who can afford this house?

House #3 is a two-story brick cottage in Houston, Texas. With four bedrooms and three baths, this 3,000-square-foot home costs $300,000. So who can afford this house?

Also Check: How Much Mortgage On 200k

How Much Income Is Needed For A 200k Mortgage

A $200k mortgage with a 4.5% interest rate over 30 years and a $10k down-payment will require an annual income of $54,729 to qualify for the loan. You can calculate for even more variations in these parameters with our Mortgage Required Income Calculator. The calculator also gives a graphical representation of required income for a broader range of interest rates.

What Is A Minimum Down Payment

A down payment is the amount of money you put towards the purchase of a home. Your lender deducts the down payment from the purchase price of your home. Your mortgage covers the rest of the price of the home.

The minimum amount you need for your down payment depends on the purchase price of the home.

If your down payment is less than 20% of the price of your home, you must purchase mortgage loan insurance.

If youre self-employed or have a poor credit history, your lender may require a larger down payment.

Normally, the minimum down payment must come from your own funds. Its better to save for a down payment and minimize your debts.

You May Like: How Much Is The Mortgage On A $300 000 House

Finding The Right Mortgage

As we said, if your credit score is below your lenders standards, its possible that your first mortgage application wont be approved but, dont give up right away. If everyone with a score under 680 got rejected for mortgages, the population of homeowners in most cities would be sparse, to say the least. That being said, before applying for a mortgage with any lender, its best to improve your credit score as much as you can, since doing so will help you gain access to better interest rates.

Remember, applying for a mortgage is the same as for any other credit product, in the sense that the lender will have to make a hard inquiry on your credit report, causing your score to drop a few points. So, when youre starting to get serious about buying a house, make sure to do some research in advance to find the best lender for your specific financial needs. Loans Canada can help match you with a third-party licenced mortgage specialist that meets your needs, regardless of your credit.

Note: Loans Canada does not arrange, underwrite or broker mortgages. We are a simple referral service.

Rating of 5/5 based on 87 votes.