About MortgageCalc

I built this because most mortgage calculators tell you what a bank will approve — not what you can actually live with.

The difference matters. A lender runs your gross income through a DTI formula and hands you a number. That number might technically fit the approval criteria while quietly consuming every dollar of breathing room in your monthly budget. People buy homes based on that number, then wonder why homeownership feels so stressful.

This calculator works from the other direction. You start with your real take-home pay — the money that actually hits your account — and subtract the things that come out regardless: debt payments, living expenses, savings goals. What's left is your real housing budget. The calculator backs into the home price and loan amount from there.

The Budget Comfort Check takes it a step further. In payment mode, you can enter your income and expenses to see how a specific home's payment feels within your actual cash flow — and whether it lands as comfortable, moderate, or stretched. That feedback isn't common in calculators, and it's the thing that actually helps you make a decision.

The guides on this site are written around the same philosophy: real numbers, honest tradeoffs, no sales pitch. The goal is to help you understand what you're getting into before you sign anything.

Questions or feedback? Get in touch.