How much home?
The honest math
Two questions hide in this one: what a lender will approve, and what your life can absorb. Buy where they overlap.
By Dawn M. Muñoz · Stonehaven Lending · Updated August 13, 2026
Lenders size your budget with debt-to-income ratios: housing payment against gross income, and total debts against the same. A common convention is 28% housing, 36% overall. Whichever you hit first is your ceiling. Compute both in our calculator, then buy below it.
PITI, not the sticker price
Underwriting qualifies you on the full payment - principal, interest, taxes, insurance, HOA, mortgage insurance. Two houses at the same price can carry very different payments. Shop with the PITI number.
Which one is binding you?
The housing ratio counts income alone; the total-debt ratio adds car payments, student loans, and card minimums. If debt binds you, paying off a $400/month car loan raises the budget more than a raise does.
The lender's yes is not the whole answer
Approval math doesn't know your childcare, savings, or the buffer that lets you sleep. A payment you qualify for can still own you. We'll say plainly when the two numbers differ.
The levers, ranked
Pay down monthly debts, raise the down payment, extend the term, improve credit, add a co-borrower. Test them in the calculator.
Have a specialist confirm it
Reply within one business day. No credit pull at this stage.