How Much Should Your Income Be?

What income is required to qualify for a mortgage? That largely depends on your monthly debt payments and the current interest rate. This calculator collects these important variables and determines your required income to qualify for your desired mortgage amount.

Definitions

Desired mortgage amount

The total loan amount you are looking to qualify for.

Monthly housing expenses

Your monthly houses expenses from the housing expenses worksheet. The items entered as housing expenses make up the taxes and insurance portion of your monthly PITI payment.

Monthly liabilities

Your monthly liabilities from the liabilities worksheet. Your monthly liabilities are used to calculate your maximum PITI.

Monthly housing payment (PITI)

This is your total Principal, Interest, Tax and Insurance (PITI) payment per month. This includes your principal, interest, real estate taxes, hazard insurance, association dues or fees and principal mortgage insurance (PMI). Maximum monthly payment (PITI) is calculated by taking the lower of these two calculations:

1. Monthly Income X 28% = monthly PITI
2. Monthly Income X 36% - Other loan payments = monthly PITI

Maximum principal and interest (PI)

This is your maximum monthly principal and interest payment. It is calculated by subtracting your monthly taxes and insurance from your monthly PITI payment. This calculator uses your maximum PI payment to determine the mortgage amount that you could qualify for.

Start interest rates at

The current interest rate you could receive on your mortgage. This is used as the starting point for displaying a range of interest rates and the resulting mortgage amount.

Term in years

The number of years over which you will repay this loan. The most common mortgage terms are 15 years and 30 years.

The mortgage calculators are provided by KJE Computer Solutions, LLC and made available to NUMBER1EXPERT as self-help tools for your independent use and are not intended to provide investment advice. We can't guarantee their applicability or accuracy in regards to your individual circumstances. All examples are hypothetical and are for illustrative purposes. We encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding all personal finance issues.