Know the real number before you fall in love with the house.
A mortgage payment is just one line. Your budget is thirty. HomeFitIQ runs both, so you know what a home really costs before you commit.
Step 1
What's your situation?
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$35,000
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Auto-filled from the national weekly average (Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, via the Federal Reserve's public data feed), refreshed weekly. Your credit score selection below shifts it to a rough personal estimate. Always fully editable.
Loading current rate…
$3,850 / yr
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Auto-filled from your state's approximate average effective property tax rate — a rough state-level estimate, not your actual county rate. Adjust freely.
Auto-filled from your state's approximate average annual premium for a typical policy. Actual quotes vary a lot by home age, construction, claims history, and coverage level.
PMI usually applies when you put down less than 20%. It typically cancels automatically once you reach 78% loan-to-value on a conventional loan. This tier is a rough estimate based on credit and down payment size — not a quote.
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Defaulted to ~3% of the home price — a typical middle-of-the-road estimate (closing costs commonly run 2–5%). This is negotiable: seller concessions or lender credits can bring your out-of-pocket amount down, sometimes to close to zero. Adjust freely once you have a real Loan Estimate.
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Auto-filled the same way as the purchase rate — weekly national average, adjustable for credit score. Editable.
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Used to figure out your equity, which determines whether PMI applies to the new loan — including whether refinancing might let you cancel PMI you're paying now.
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If your new loan is under 80% of your home's value (20%+ equity), PMI won't apply — which is one of the more common reasons people refinance in the first place.
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Now let's see if it fits your life.
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Step 2
Build your real monthly budget
Add your income, then every other bill in your life. Nothing here leaves your browser.
Income
Borrower 1
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Hours over 40 in a week use the rate above. For biweekly pay, each week's overtime is calculated independently, then combined into your paycheck.
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≈ $0 / year based on these numbers
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⚠ Bonuses can change or disappear year to year. Consider treating this as a bonus toward savings or debt, not as money you rely on to cover fixed monthly bills.
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Child support, alimony, pension, Social Security, disability, rental income, etc.
This counts toward your gross and net income like any other income. One accuracy note: Social Security/Medicare tax (FICA) only applies to wages, not to income like pensions, child support, or rental income — so this amount is included in the federal tax estimate but excluded from the FICA portion, to avoid overstating your tax bite.
Borrower 2
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Filing status and tax rate below are combined for the household.
Single — unmarried, no qualifying dependent. Married filing jointly — married, one combined return; usually the better math for a couple. Head of household — unmarried but paying more than half the cost of a home for a qualifying dependent; bigger standard deduction than Single. Married filing separately — married, two separate returns; generally the least favorable brackets, typically chosen for specific legal or financial reasons rather than to lower taxes.
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This estimates federal income tax based on your income, using 2026 tax rules. The checkbox above adds Social Security and Medicare on top (7.65% combined — together with federal tax, this is often labeled "FICA" on a pay stub). Uncheck it to see federal tax alone. Either way, this field is always yours to edit — type your own number from a real paystub and it'll stick until you change your income or click the checkbox again.
Gross monthly income$0
Net monthly income (after estimated tax)$0
Monthly expenses
Housing
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Utilities
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Transportation
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Insurance
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Debt payments
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Food
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Subscriptions & fun
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Savings & investments
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Traditional contributions are pre-tax, so entering % here is based on gross income — matching how real 401(k) elections work on a paycheck. The savings bar in Step 3 is shown as % of net (take-home) income instead, so the two numbers won't match exactly. A 12% gross contribution, for example, will show up as a slightly higher percentage on that bar since net income is smaller than gross.
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Roth contributions come out of money you've already paid tax on, so entering % here is based on net (take-home) income — unlike Traditional, which uses gross. This matches how a Roth election actually works on a paycheck.
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Family & pets
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Step 3
The full picture
Can you afford this home?
Your monthly bottom line, updated live.
↗ Total monthly income$0net, after estimated tax
↘ Total monthly expenses$0housing + everything else
Remaining (net cash flow)$0discretionary income / mo
✓Looks affordableYour income comfortably covers your expenses.
Does this refinance make sense?
Comparing your current loan to the new one.
Monthly savings$0
Break-even—time to recoup closing costs
Lifetime interest saved$0
✓Makes sense
This verdict looks at the rate and payment math only — whether accessing the cash-out amount is worth it is a separate decision only you can make.
Housing cost vs. gross income 0%
Guideline: keep under ~28%
Housing payment only (Step 1's total), divided by gross monthly income.
Total debt payments vs. gross income 0%
Guideline: keep under ~36% (the "28/36 rule")
Housing plus car loans, student loans, and credit cards — real debt obligations only, divided by gross monthly income. This won't move for discretionary spending like streaming or dining out; that shows up in the total spending bar below instead.
Savings & investing vs. net income 0%
Under 5%: needs improvement · 5–12%: good · 12%+: great · Goal: 15%+
Retirement, emergency fund, and general savings, divided by net (take-home) monthly income.
Total spending vs. net income 0%
100%
Bar is scaled so the marker sits at 100% (break-even) — anything filling past it means you're in a deficit
Every expense you've entered — including discretionary spending like streaming, dining out, and subscriptions — divided by net monthly income. This is the one that reacts to everything.
Where you might adjust
Take your numbers with you
Download a copy — handy for sharing with a spouse, agent, or lender, or just keeping for your records.