What is the 28/36 rule?

A common lender guideline: your total monthly housing payment should be at most 28% of gross monthly income (front-end), and your housing plus all other debt payments at most 36% (back-end). Lenders qualify you on the more restrictive of the two.

Private mortgage insurance (PMI) is charged on a conventional loan when the down payment is below 20%, that is when the loan starts above 80% loan-to-value. It adds roughly 0.5% of the loan a year, flat, to your payment. It ends for good when the balance reaches 80% of the original price: you may ask the servicer to cancel it there, and the Homeowners Protection Act requires automatic termination once the balance is scheduled to reach 78%.

Is this a guaranteed loan amount?

No. This is a qualifying estimate based on the 28/36 rule. Your actual approval depends on credit score, reserves, debt-to-income, lender overlays, and advertised rates. Use it as a budget guide, not a preapproval.

Home Affordability Calculator

Q: Can I get rid of FHA mortgage insurance with a 20% down payment?

No. Annual MIP is charged on every FHA loan at every down payment, 20% and above included, so there is no 20%-down escape as there is on a conventional loan. What the down payment changes is how long it runs: at or below 90% loan-to-value the premium stops after 11 years, and above 90% LTV — which a 3.5% down payment (96.5% LTV) is — it is charged for the entire mortgage term. Extra principal payments do not remove it either; refinancing into a conventional loan once you have 20% equity is the usual way out.

Q: Is FHA MIP the same thing as PMI?

No, they are different products. PMI is private mortgage insurance: an insurer prices it from your credit score and down payment, it exists only while a conventional loan is above 80% loan-to-value, and it is a flat charge that ends for good once the balance reaches that line. MIP is the FHA's mortgage insurance premium: HUD sets it in a published grid (Handbook 4000.1, Appendix 1.0) indexed by loan size, loan-to-value and term, it is charged on every FHA loan regardless of down payment, and above 90% LTV it runs the full term.

How much house can you actually qualify for? Based on your income and debts.

Last updated: September 12, 2026

Your answer

Adjust your inputs below.

Mortgage insurance is not an input to pick from a menu: it is derived from the loan type, the down payment and the loan-to-value. The PMI rate above is the one number a conventional borrower can shop for; the FHA premium is published and is read from HUD's grid.

FHA annual MIP rates: HUD Handbook 4000.1, Appendix 1.0 — reading the shipped grid for this figure.

Your total monthly housing payment, broken into its components, with each bar named and priced. The mortgage-insurance bar is PMI on a conventional loan and FHA annual MIP on an FHA one — two different products.

What can you truly afford?

"How much house can I afford" is the question that sets borrowers up for the most regret — because the answer banks give you is often more than you can comfortably afford. This tool models the qualifying cap using the standard lender 28/36 rule, then shows you the real monthly cost so you can decide what's comfortable, not just what's approved.

The 28/36 rule, explained

Lenders use two ratios to set your ceiling:

Front-end (28%): your total housing payment — principal, interest, property tax, insurance, HOA, and PMI — should be ≤ 28% of your gross monthly income.
Back-end (36%): your total monthly debt (housing + credit cards + auto + student loans) should be ≤ 36% of gross income.

The calculator takes the more restrictive of the two. So if you have big student loan or car debt, the back-end ratio binds and your affordable home drops accordingly.

Mortgage insurance is two different products

Put less than 20% down on a conventional loan and you'll likely pay private mortgage insurance — a monthly charge that protects the lender, not you. PMI is private, priced off the original loan amount, flat for as long as it lasts, and it ends for good once the balance reaches 80% of the original price: you may ask the servicer to cancel it at 80%, and the Homeowners Protection Act requires automatic termination once the balance is scheduled to reach 78%. That is why this calculator charges PMI only below 20% down, and stops it when the loan reaches 80% loan-to-value.

An FHA loan works differently in the two ways that cost real money. First, annual MIP is charged at every down payment, 20% and above included — there is no 20%-down escape, which is the exact mirror of the conventional rule. Second, how long it lasts depends on your loan-to-value: at or below 90% loan-to-value it stops after 11 years, and above 90% loan-to-value — which a 3.5% down payment (96.5% LTV) is by definition — it is charged for the entire mortgage term. Extra principal payments do not remove it, because it is not tied to the balance crossing a threshold; refinancing into a conventional loan once you have 20% equity is the usual exit. Switch Loan type above to FHA to price it on your own numbers.

The FHA rate is not a quote and not negotiable: HUD publishes it in a grid indexed by loan size, loan-to-value and term (Handbook 4000.1, Appendix 1.0), so this page reads the rate from that grid rather than assuming one, and charges it on the declining balance. FHA also adds a one-off upfront premium (1.75% of the base loan amount in the grid shipped here), which this calculator finances on top of the loan — the loan-to-value test deliberately ignores it, because that is the rule.

What the calculator deliberately ignores

Credit score: it can raise or lower your qualifying rate by a point or more.
Reserves: some lenders want months of payments in the bank.
Lender overlays: individual lenders can be more conservative than the rule.
Living costs beyond housing: the 28/36 rule is about qualifying, not about whether you can still save, travel, and handle surprises.

Methodology & sources

Conventional PMI — 0.5%/yr of the original loan amount, flat, charged only when the down payment is under 20% of the price, and stopped at the payment where the scheduled balance first reaches 80% of that price. Cancellation on request at 80% and automatic termination at 78% are the borrower's rights under the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998. The 0.5% is a working middle for a private product that insurers price from credit score and down payment, so it stays editable above.
FHA annual MIP — read from HUD's published grid (Handbook 4000.1, Appendix 1.0; rates set by Mortgagee Letter 2023-05) shipped in assets/data/fha-mip-2026.json, indexed by loan size, loan-to-value and term. It is charged monthly on the outstanding balance, so it shrinks as the loan is paid down, and the duration comes from the same row: 11 years at or below 90% LTV, the whole term above it. A 3.5% down payment is 96.5% LTV, so the standard FHA loan pays MIP in every one of its 360 payments.
The loan-size band boundary is the national conforming loan limit recorded in that grid (printed with its retrieved date in the sources line under the results). HUD ties the bands to the current limit, so a loan near that line deserves a re-read of Appendix 1.0 before it is trusted.
The 1.75% upfront premium is added to the loan balance here rather than paid at closing, which is the common choice — and it means the payment is computed on a slightly larger balance, which is exactly what a financed premium does.
The budget is the standard 28/36 lending rule with a closed-form solve for the maximum home price, with mortgage insurance priced inside that budget. Defaults: income from the U.S. Census median household income; rate from Freddie Mac PMMS (6.70%); both editable.

Frequently asked questions

Is this what a lender will preapprove me for?

Close, but not exact. Your lender will factor your credit score, reserves, and specific program. Use this as a budget sanity-check, then get a real preapproval.

Should I put down exactly 20% to avoid PMI?

On a conventional loan, 20% down removes PMI, because the loan then starts at exactly 80% loan-to-value and this calculator charges nothing. Only do it if you can afford it without draining emergency savings — sometimes a smaller down payment plus PMI is better than wiping out your reserves. On an FHA loan there is nothing to avoid: annual MIP is charged at every down payment, 20% included.

Can I get rid of FHA mortgage insurance with a 20% down payment?

No. FHA annual MIP is charged at every down payment, 20% and above included, so the conventional 20%-down escape does not exist. What your down payment changes is how long it runs: put 10% or more down (at or below 90% LTV) and the premium stops after 11 years; put less down — the standard 3.5% is 96.5% LTV — and you are above 90% LTV, so it is charged for the entire mortgage term. Extra principal payments do not remove it, and neither does the balance crossing 80% LTV. Refinancing into a conventional loan once you have 20% equity is the usual way out.

Is FHA MIP the same thing as PMI?

No — different products, different rules, and calling one by the other's name is how an FHA buyer gets told their insurance stops after eight years when on their loan it never stops. PMI is private: an insurer prices it from your credit and down payment, it is flat for its life, it exists only while a conventional loan is above 80% LTV, and it ends for good at that line. MIP is the FHA's: HUD publishes it in a grid (Handbook 4000.1, Appendix 1.0), it is charged on the declining balance, it applies to every FHA loan whatever the down payment, and above 90% LTV it runs the full term.

Why does the affordable price drop when I add debt?

Because the back-end (36%) ratio includes all your monthly debt. More debt eats into the same 36% budget, leaving less room for housing.

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