My numbers

• Each number you give is a limit: your income, your cash and the most you’d pay a month. The top of the range is the highest price, in steps of $5,000, that fits all of them; the page says which one sets it.
• Income: the estimated monthly housing payment stays within two common lender guidelines: housing up to 28% of your gross monthly income and all debts up to 36% at the low end, 36% and 43% at the top. They’re guidelines, not rules: “Different loan products and lenders will have different DTI limits” (CFPB, “What is a debt-to-income ratio?” (opens in a new tab), last reviewed Aug 28, 2023).
• Cash: the down payment, closing costs and the planned $5,000 Homiy fee together, before any seller credit. Paying cash (100% down), there’s no loan, so income isn’t used.
• Down payment: at least 3%, or 100% to pay cash. The figures price a conventional loan, and Fannie Mae allows one on a home you’ll live in with as little as 3% down on a fixed rate (above 95% of the value, one of you must be a first-time buyer, unless it’s a HomeReady loan or has a Community Seconds loan), but not on a high-balance loan, which takes at least 5% down (Eligibility Matrix (opens in a new tab), August 5, 2026). A high-balance loan is one above $832,750, FHFA’s 2026 baseline limit, in a county whose own limit is higher (FHFA (opens in a new tab)). The range and the loan limits below use your own percent and say when the loan would be one; Check a home prices one at no less than 5%. FHA, VA and USDA loans have their own rules: ask a lender.
• The prices stand for a house of unknown size with no HOA dues: the city’s property tax for a new buyer, a typical insurance premium and, below 20% down, mortgage insurance. A condo’s dues would lower the range.
• Illustrative, not a pre-approval or a loan offer. Lenders look at your credit, savings and full application.

Your cash minus the cash needed at the price you check, shown as months of the monthly housing payment: a simple reserves measure. Lenders set their own reserve rules. Fannie Mae’s guide, for example, counts reserves as the months of the mortgage payment (principal, interest, taxes, insurance and association dues) a borrower could pay from what’s left after closing. For a one-unit home you’ll live in, its automated underwriting sets no fixed minimum but can require reserves based on the rest of the application (Selling Guide B3-4.1-01 (opens in a new tab), Aug 7, 2024).

Not included: a home inspection, moving, immediate repairs, or reserves a lender may want you to keep after closing.

• The benchmark rate: 7.03% is Freddie Mac's average 30-year fixed rate for the week of Sep 24, 2026, for buyers with 20% down and excellent credit. It isn't an offer or an APR. Freddie Mac (opens in a new tab)
• What buyers here got and borrowed: public loan records under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA): 2025 home-purchase loans on owner-occupied homes in the city’s census tracts (HMDA Data Browser (opens in a new tab)). Loans that closed, not offers.
• Loan limits: FHFA’s 2026 conforming loan limits and HUD’s 2026 FHA limits for the city’s main county.
• Median home value: the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (5-year estimates): what owners estimate their homes are worth, with its margin of error. A typical value, not a price.
• Tax, insurance and closing costs: each city’s rules and sources, the same calculation as a home page’s costs. Lender fees are samples. How we know

Stored only in this browser, in its local storage; this page doesn’t send them anywhere. Search, home pages and offers use them too. Reset them here, or with Reset demo in the app’s Demo menu.