Home Affordability Checkup
Can you actually afford this house?
Enter a home price and your finances once. See the payment, down payment, debt load, property tax and cash-to-close — each against a cited benchmark, with one verdict.
3 of 5 in a healthy range. A stretch — workable with some trade-offs.
- Monthly payment29% of income
- Down payment15%
- Debt-to-income34%
- Property tax1.1%
- Cash to close118%
Example figures — edit any input to recompute every metric against its cited benchmark.
The home and your finances — enter once
Full PITI payment — principal, interest, taxes and insurance — vs gross income.
Uses the shared inputs above.
A stretch — above the 28% front-end guideline.
Source: Fannie Mae / lender front-end ratio
Putting 20% down avoids private mortgage insurance and shrinks the loan.
Uses the shared inputs above.
Workable — under 20% usually means paying PMI.
Source: Freddie Mac / conventional loan norms
The new housing payment plus your other monthly debts, vs gross income.
Healthy — total debt is within lender comfort.
Source: CFPB / lender qualifying guideline
This home's effective property-tax rate vs the median county rate in your state.
Uses the shared inputs above.
Below your state's median — low property taxes for the state.
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2023 · NumberBench County Atlas
Down payment plus ~3% closing costs, against the cash you have.
Covered — you have the cash for down payment and closing.
Source: Typical closing costs 2–5%
How this checkup works
We estimate the full PITI payment (principal, interest, property tax and insurance) from the price, down payment, rate and tax rate you enter, then test it against common lender guidelines: the 28% front-end and 36% back-end ratios and the 20% down-payment threshold that avoids PMI. The property-tax check reads NumberBench's County Atlas data (assets/state-proptax.js, the median county rate in each state, derived from all 3,142 counties) and compares this home's rate to the median for the state you pick. Estimates only.
Sources: Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac qualifying guidelines · CFPB · U.S. Census ACS 2023 property tax (NumberBench County Atlas).
Frequently asked questions
What percent of income should go to a mortgage?
A common rule keeps the full housing payment at or below 28% of gross income, with total debt under 36%.
How is property tax benchmarked?
Against the median county effective rate in the state you select — derived from all 3,142 counties in our County Atlas — so you can see whether this home's taxes are high for the state.
Every number here is benchmarked against a cited public source. Estimates only — verify important figures independently.