💰 MortgageAfford

Know your numbers before you talk to a lender

Buying a home is the largest financial decision most people ever make, and the math behind it is usually explained in jargon or tucked inside a lender's sales funnel. MortgageAfford puts those numbers in the open. What can you actually afford on your income? Will refinancing pay for itself before you move? How long until the debt is gone if you add a hundred dollars a month? Every answer takes seconds, and every tool shows the rule or formula it applied.

The calculators cover the decisions that come up around a mortgage and the budget around it: affordability based on debt-to-income, monthly payments and payoff timelines, refinance break-even, closing costs, home equity borrowing, rent versus buy, student loan payoff, life insurance needs, and a full monthly budget. Each one is paired with a written guide that explains the underlying rule and works through a real example.

These tools follow the standards lenders and regulators actually use rather than numbers invented to look reassuring. Affordability applies the 28/36 debt-to-income rule underwriters use. Life insurance uses the DIME method. Home equity borrowing respects the common 80 percent loan-to-value cap. Where a figure comes from an authority such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or Freddie Mac, the guide says so and links out.

Nothing here needs an account, and the figures you enter stay in your browser. Pick a calculator below, or read the financial guides for the reasoning behind them.

MortgageAfford produces educational estimates, not personalized financial advice. The editor is not a licensed financial advisor, mortgage broker, or tax professional. Confirm any figure with a qualified professional and your actual lender before making a decision.