Start with a payment. Get a price.
Every other affordability calculator asks your income first, because it is answering a lender’s question. This one asks what you’re comfortable paying, because that’s your question. Then it runs the same purchase twice — traditionally, and with the BuyBorrow Advantage™ benefit applied — so you can see the difference in dollars rather than in adjectives.
Where should the benefit go?
Assumptions — edit any of these
On Auto, conventional mortgage insurance is estimated
from a built-in premium grid by credit range and loan-to-value, and FHA uses the factors above. Those are
illustrative approximations — the live rate card is in src/data/mi-rates.js. Override any
single file with your actual quote using the
% / yr or $ / mo control. Credit-tier rate adjustments and interested-party
contribution ceilings are applied automatically from the loan program, credit range, and loan-to-value.
Interest rate and buydown cost come from the loaded wholesale rate sheet: the base price at each rate for
your lock period, plus the loan-level price adjustments for credit, LTV, occupancy and loan size. The rate
shown is par — the cheapest rate that costs you nothing — and a buydown walks down that same
ladder for whatever the benefit actually pays for. Commission is negotiable and not set by law; the figures
above are placeholders for illustration, not an offer.
How to read this
The slider is the interesting control. Slide it left and the eligible benefit buys down your interest rate, which lowers the payment permanently and increases how much house the same payment supports. Slide it right and the benefit goes toward allowable closing costs and prepaids, which lowers the cash you bring to the table but leaves the payment where it was.
Neither is the right answer in general. The right answer depends on which constraint is actually binding for you — the monthly number, or the wire on closing day. Most buyers know which one it is the moment they’re asked.
Where the readout says a portion of the benefit is not applicable in this structure, that’s the interested-party contribution ceiling or the actual-cost limit binding. It is shown rather than hidden, because a calculator that quietly pretends the whole benefit lands every time is not worth running.
Tell me your payment. I’ll build the plan around it.
Send the monthly number you’re comfortable with and I’ll come back with a purchase range, a loan program comparison, and what the BuyBorrow Advantage™ benefit looks like on your file.