This home affordability calculator for agent websites works backwards from a buyer's income, monthly debts and down payment to a maximum home price and monthly payment. It's the calculator for people who haven't picked a listing yet. They want to know where to start looking. Put it on your buyer page and blog, and it brings in buyers who are months from a pre-approval but already serious about a budget.
It turns 'we're just starting to look' into a number. The buyer enters income, debts and down payment and sees a maximum price and payment based on debt-to-income limits. You get a realistic price range for your search, and a reason to follow up with homes that fit it.
Visitors who land on a buyer guide are early. They don't have a listing in mind, so a payment calculator on a single home doesn't help them yet. An affordability calculator answers their actual question and gives you a price range to search with.
Send the link a few days before you meet. The buyer arrives having thought about income, debts and down payment, and you arrive knowing the range they expect. The consultation can focus on neighborhoods and trade-offs instead of arithmetic.
Pair it with rent vs. buy. Affordability tells them what's possible. Rent vs. buy tells them whether it makes sense for how long they plan to stay.
The buyer enters household income (and a co-borrower's), car payments, student loans, credit cards and other debts, plus down payment, rate, term, tax rate, insurance, HOA and PMI. They can set the front-end and back-end DTI limits. The result shows a maximum home price, maximum loan and the estimated monthly payment, with how much of their budget is left over.
The lead you receiveYou'll see the Maximum Home Price and Estimated Monthly Payment they reached, the Down Payment they plan to bring, the Debt-to-Income Used and their Remaining Budget. That combination tells you how stretched they'd be at the top of the range, which is often more useful than the maximum itself.
You came out at around $410,000 as a maximum. Most people I work with feel better a bit under that. Would a search in the $350s to $380s be a good place to start?
The same figures your visitor sees arrive in your lead record. Here's how to read the ones that matter.
DTI limits in the calculator are guidelines, not a lender's decision. Credit, reserves, program rules and underwriting all change the outcome. Avoid 'you're approved up to' language anywhere near this calculator.
If the embed's default back-end DTI is generous, every buyer sees an inflated maximum. Keep defaults conservative, and let the buyer or their lender change them.
In areas with high property taxes or HOA dues, the same income buys much less house. Set the default tax rate and HOA to realistic local values so the maximum isn't misleading.
Income Details
Monthly Debts
Loan Details
Housing Costs
DTI & Comfort Level
Field names are shown as they appear in the calculator's English interface.
This calculator estimates borrowing capacity from a standard debt-to-income ratio and the figures you enter. Actual approval depends on your credit score, loan program, lender guidelines, and full underwriting. Treat the result as a starting point, not a pre-approval.
Calculator results are estimates for illustration, not Loan Estimates, pre-approvals or offers of credit.
It works backwards from income. The front-end ratio caps the housing payment as a share of income, and the back-end ratio caps housing plus other debts. Whichever is lower sets the payment, and the payment, rate, term, taxes, insurance, HOA and PMI then set the loan amount and price.
The calculator defaults to common guideline levels, and the visitor can change them. Program limits vary: some loans allow higher back-end ratios with strong compensating factors. For a real limit, the buyer needs a lender. The DTI calculator shows the ratios for a specific payment.
Yes. The maximum price is the maximum loan plus the down payment entered. A larger down payment also reduces or removes PMI, which can raise the maximum price further.
Before. It helps buyers arrive at the lender with a realistic idea and helps you plan the first search. After pre-approval, switch to the mortgage calculator on specific listings.
Show the levers honestly: a different area, a smaller home type, more time to save, assistance programs or paying down debts. The down payment calculator helps when the gap is cash, not income.
Only what they choose to share. The calculator lets buyers work privately, and the lead shows what they entered. Keep the conversation about the budget, and leave credit decisions to the lender.
Your buyer guide, first-time buyer page, relocation page and blog posts about buying. It works better on pages for people who are still planning than on individual listings.
Yes. Field defaults, labels and visibility are set in the calculator settings. You can hide the DTI fields for a simpler version, or show them for financially minded buyers.
The page and calculator settings are available, but this calculator's interface is currently English only, unlike most of the set. For Spanish-speaking buyers, use the pre-qualification calculator, which covers similar ground in both languages.
Included on every plan, including the free Agent plan. No card needed.