HOMEBUYER PREPARATION • PAYMENT-FIRST PLANNING

Find Your Three Numbers

Before deciding what home price to shop for, determine what fits your life. In a few minutes, establish the monthly housing payment that feels comfortable, the most you would consider for the right home, and the cash you would prefer to use.

1Comfortable Payment

2Maximum Payment

3Planned Cash to Close

No registration, credit pull, SSN, or document upload is required to get your result. This is a planning tool, not a mortgage approval.

Find My Three Numbers I Already Know My Numbers

Step 1 of 6Start

START WITH YOUR LIFE, NOT A LOAN AMOUNT

Your budget should come before your home price.

Mortgage qualification and personal affordability are different questions. This tool starts with your household cash flow and the priorities you want homeownership to coexist with.

Comfort

What fits the life you want to keep living.

Boundary

Where you would draw the line for the right home.

Liquidity

What you prefer to use without draining cash you want to protect.

Your entries stay on this page while you work.Detailed expense entries are not sent anywhere by this tool. If you choose to continue afterward, only your confirmed Three Numbers are carried forward in your browser for the next step.

STEP 1 • YOUR HOUSEHOLD TODAY

Start with what actually comes in each month.

Use a normal month. If income varies, use a reasonable monthly average.

Typical monthly take-home income Required$After taxes and payroll deductions. Gross monthly household income Optional$Before taxes. Retained for later planning context; it does not set this budget. Current monthly housing payment Required$Your current rent or total mortgage payment. Will this housing payment continue after you buy? Required

STEP 2 • WHAT YOUR LIFE COSTS

Estimate the monthly spending you expect to keep.

Realistic estimates are more useful than false precision. Enter broad totals, or open any category if you want help thinking through it.

Transportation$

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Vehicle payments or leases, auto insurance, fuel, maintenance, parking, tolls, and other regular transportation costs.

Credit cards & loans$

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Required monthly payments on credit cards, personal loans, and installment loans. Do not enter the full balances here.

Student loans$

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The monthly student-loan payment you normally make or expect to make.

Childcare & education$

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Daycare, tuition, recurring education costs, and other regular dependent-care expenses.

Utilities & communications$

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Electricity, gas, water, mobile phones, internet, cable/streaming bundles, and similar household services.

Food & household$

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Groceries, household supplies, clothing, routine personal care, and similar regular spending.

Medical & insurance$

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Health insurance not already deducted from pay, prescriptions, recurring medical, dental, vision, and supplies.

Lifestyle$

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Dining out, entertainment, memberships, pet care, travel/vacation savings, gifts, subscriptions, and other spending you intend to keep.

Other recurring expenses$

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Anything important that is not captured above, including charitable giving or other recurring commitments.

Expenses that will end after the move

If something above will disappear after you buy, enter the monthly amount here.

Monthly amount $Description Optional

New recurring costs you expect

Include expected non-housing costs that are not already in the categories above.

Monthly amount $Description Optional

Do not add future property taxes, homeowners insurance, mortgage insurance, or HOA/condo dues here. Those belong inside the future total housing payment.

STEP 3 • WHAT YOU WANT TO PROTECT

Homeownership should coexist with the rest of your plan.

We will use your desired savings and breathing room to calculate a suggested comfortable payment, then use your minimum protections to calculate a potential stretch boundary.

Comfortable lifeWhat you would normally like to preserve

Desired monthly savings / investing Required$Include the savings and investing you want homeownership to coexist with. Desired monthly breathing room Required$Uncommitted flexibility for normal life, surprises, and choices.

Right-home boundaryThe minimum you are unwilling to give up

Minimum monthly savings / investing Required$This cannot be higher than your desired savings. Minimum monthly breathing room Required$This cannot be higher than your desired breathing room.

STEP 4 • CASH STRATEGY

Available cash and preferred cash are not the same thing.

Protect the reserves and near-term commitments that matter to you before deciding what cash you want to deploy toward the purchase.

Funds currently available for a home purchase Required$Include the liquid funds you want considered in this planning exercise. We will subtract the reserves you choose to protect. Additional funds expected before purchase $Gift funds, sale proceeds, planned bonus, or other expected funds. Cash you want to keep protected after buying Required$Emergency savings or other money you do not want the purchase to consume. Other known cash needs to preserve $Moving, furnishings, repairs, tuition, vehicle, business needs, or another planned expense.

Potentially deployable cash$0Available + expected funds − protected reserves − other commitments.

STEP 5 • YOU CHOOSE THE NUMBERS

The math informs the decision. You establish the boundaries.

Comfortable Payment

Based on the lifestyle, savings, and monthly cushion you entered, your suggested starting point is:

$0/moMy Comfortable Payment $

Adjust it if your judgment is different.

Maximum Payment

Within the minimum savings and breathing room you chose, your calculated upper boundary is:

$0/moMy Maximum Payment $

Choose your own line. The tool will not automatically anchor you at the upper boundary.

Planned Cash to Close

Based on the cash and reserves you entered, up to this amount appears potentially deployable:

$0My Planned Cash to Close $

Choose what you prefer to use—not simply everything available.

WHY THIS IS DIFFERENT

Your approval limit is not the same thing as your budget.

A lender may calculate how much you can qualify to borrow. This tool answers a different question first: what payment and cash commitment fit the life you actually want to live after you buy?

Protect normal life

Savings, investing, lifestyle spending, and monthly breathing room are part of the plan—not leftovers.

Choose your own stretch

The calculator can identify a boundary from the protections you choose. It does not decide that you should spend to that boundary.

Preserve liquidity

Cash available for a purchase is different from the cash you actually want to deploy.

THREE NUMBERS → HOME PURCHASE PLAN

Establish the boundaries first. Then build the financing around them.

Once your Comfortable Payment, Maximum Payment, and Planned Cash to Close are clear, the next step is translating those boundaries into property-specific financing options and a home purchase strategy.

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