But once again, you’re armed with an impressive array of research to help you.

So now you know what you can afford, the next question is what will that buy in your market? The same payment that would buy you a mansion in Moline won’t get you a shack in San Francisco. Having real numbers to look at will help make taking the leap a whole lot easier. You can get real-time rate quotes from multiple lenders on Zillow by entering details such as your income, home purchase price, and credit score, to see exactly what interest rate you will qualify for. The interest rate you'll pay for your mortgage can have a big impact on your affordability. Then you can fiddle around with different interest rates and see what a 15-year loan would look like compared with a 30-year loan, or what spending a little less would look like in your monthly budget. You can also check out the mortgage calculator to get an estimate of your monthly mortgage payment if you buy a home at that price. Once you’re done you’ll know exactly what percentage of your income goes to paying off existing debt.

If you want to see how that figure shakes out for you, try the DTI calculator. What you’re really looking at (and what lenders are going to be very interested in seeing) is your DTI or Debt to Income ratio. The affordability calculator will tell you what you can afford to spend. Finally, enter how much you’ve saved toward a down payment. You don’t need to worry about things like utilities and food – the calculator already assumes you’re going to need to eat and use lights and even buy clothes and entertainment. Then plug in any debt you currently owe, including car payments, student loan payments, existing mortgage payments that you will continue to owe, child support, alimony and minimum monthly payments on credit cards. You’ll start with your gross annual income. Of course, you’ll need to know what numbers to enter. You can simply plug some numbers into an affordability calculator and voila! You’ll have your answer. The first question used to be answered with scribbled calculations done while hunched over a dining room table. So how much house can you afford? What will that get you in your local market? Today, fortunately, it’s easier than ever to get those answers. You can’t buy a $225,000 home on a $200,000 budget, even if you do stick with that bargain-brand toothpaste and amortize it over 30 years. You may pass on $2 generic toothpaste in favor of the $2.25 brand-name, but zeros can really add up when it comes to a home. When it comes to buying a house, the numbers get so big they can start to lose meaning.

Piti mortgage calculator zillow