QA Onboarding Test

Your real budget,
based on what lenders actually do.

Lenders use a debt-to-income ratio (DTI), your total monthly housing + debt obligations divided by your gross monthly income. Most conventional loans cap DTI at 36%. Use this calculator to see what that translates to in home price.

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Cars, student loans, credit-card minimums

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Conventional max ~36%. Conservative buyers use 28%.

Loan assumptions

Get an estimate, then talk to an agent

We'll use the numbers above for an instant estimate. Then, if you like, an agent can follow up about your budget and homes that fit it.

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Cars, student loans, card minimums

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The 28/36 rule

The two ratios every lender checks.

Conventional mortgage underwriting uses two DTI thresholds. Front-end DTI is your housing payment alone (PITI: principal + interest + tax + insurance, plus mortgage insurance when you put down less than 20%) divided by gross monthly income. Most lenders cap this at 28%.

Back-end DTI is housing + ALL other monthly debt (car payments, student loans, credit-card minimums, alimony) divided by gross monthly income. Cap is typically 36% for conventional loans, 43% for FHA, up to 50% in some VA configurations.

Why both matter: a buyer with high income but lots of consumer debt may pass front-end but fail back-end. A buyer with low income but no other debt may pass back-end but fail front-end. Lenders need both clear.

This calculator enforces both: the front-end housing-only cap is fixed at 28% (conventional standard); the back-end cap is the comfort DTI slider you control. The binding constraint is whichever is lower at your inputs. Lowering the comfort DTI gives a more conservative budget. Raising it (43% is common for FHA) only raises the result while the back-end cap is the one that binds; with little other debt, the 28% housing cap binds first, and the result says so.

Confirm your real budget

An affordability calculator screens. A lender confirms, after pulling your credit and verifying your income. Tell us your budget and timeline. A licensed agent from QA Onboarding Test will follow up about homes and financing. Only a lender can pre-approve you for a loan.

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