In our last post, we went into some detail on figuring out how big of a mortgage and home purchase price a homebuyer can afford. In this post we will share a simple rule of thumb to figure out the maximum loan size you have a shot at qualifying for. Here it is:
Quick Rule Of Thumb For Maximum Loan Amount To Expect
You normally should expect to qualify for no more than 4-5 times your family’s gross annual income. So if the gross annual income (before deductions) is $70k, the maximum mortgage loan amount you should expect would be in the $280-350k ballpark.
Please note that this is only a rule of thumb and it only works if other monthly debts are relatively low. The higher the other monthly debts payments for things like autos, student loans, credit cards, collections, etc, the more compressed the maximum loan amount figure will be. Plus things like lower credit scores can compress this number. But this method can be useful to folks hoping to get a rough feel for the loan amount they have a shot at looking for.
To find out if you can qualify for a mortgage and how much, fill in the contact form on our home purchase page here.