Ohio · Buyer education
How your car payment is quietly shrinking your home-buying power.
The math every buyer wishes someone had shown them before pre-approval. You can afford the mortgage — but a car payment can mean you don't qualify for it. Run your own numbers below.
Your car payment is costing you
$0
in home-buying power.
With car payment
$0
With no car payment
$0
Monthly housing payment, at max price
- Principal & interest
- $0
- Property tax
- $0
- Homeowners insurance
- $0
- HOA
- $0
- Total PITI + HOA
- $0
What if your car payment were…
| Car payment | Max home price | Lost vs. $0 |
|---|
How the math works
1. Gross monthly income = annual income ÷ 12. 2. Max total monthly debt = gross monthly income × DTI ceiling. 3. Max housing payment = max total debt − car payment − other debts. 4. Subtract monthly property tax, insurance, and HOA → P&I budget. 5. Solve for loan principal: P = M × (1 − (1 + r)^−n) ÷ r. 6. Max home price = loan principal + down payment. 7. Property tax depends on home price, so iterate until stable.
Every dollar of non-housing debt pushes against the DTI ceiling, so every dollar of car payment takes a dollar out of your maximum allowable housing payment — and a dollar out of the housing payment is roughly $150–$180 of lost purchase price at current rates on a 30-year fixed.
We're licensed Ohio real estate agents — not mortgage lenders or financial advisors. The math
here is the same math lenders use, but your actual pre-approval depends on the full picture:
your credit report, employment history, the lender's overlays, and the loan product you choose.
Use this to understand how the pieces fit together, then talk to a mortgage professional for an
actual pre-approval. Nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice.