Affordability and reserve planner

Two limits, both worth respecting

A lender qualification and a comfortable personal budget answer different questions. This planner subtracts your non-housing expenses and savings target from take-home income. Separately, it subtracts upfront costs and a chosen emergency reserve from liquid savings. A positive monthly balance cannot fix a negative cash position, and ample savings do not guarantee manageable monthly costs.

Try a transparent example

With $8,000 take-home income, $3,000 other expenses and a $1,000 monthly savings target, $4,000 remains for housing. If you hold $100,000, expect $70,000 upfront costs and want six months of $4,000 essential expenses, the $24,000 reserve leaves only $6,000 beyond that target.

Keep the inputs with the result

Save the figures, their dates and the document or assumption behind each one. Change one input at a time to see what actually changes the decision. A result with uncertain inputs remains an estimate, even when the arithmetic is exact.

Your assumptions, made visible