Every guide on HowAffordable shows the actual formula, cites where the numbers come from, and works through one real example — not just a rule of thumb. All 17 guides are live now, covering home and car affordability, mortgages, credit, debt payoff, and closing costs — more added as the hub keeps growing.
The six guides most readers open first — one for each big decision.
Pre-approval math and comfortable math aren't the same calculation — here's the worked example that shows the ~$35,000 gap between them.
The number that actually sets your borrowing ceiling, and the one most first-time buyers have never calculated for themselves.
Conventional PMI cancels itself — if you know when to ask. FHA's MIP is a different, stricter program. Both, with real dollar figures.
Approval math and comfortable math aren't the same test — the 20/4/10 rule catches everything a payment-only calculation leaves out.
The honest break-even math depends on one thing most calculators skip: whether you'd actually invest what you save.
2,746 active down payment assistance programs nationwide — and most buyers who'd qualify never look, because of two wrong assumptions.
Pre-approval math and comfortable math aren't the same calculation — here's the worked example that shows the ~$35,000 gap between them.
Conventional PMI cancels itself — if you know when to ask. FHA's MIP is a different, stricter program. Both, with real dollar figures.
The honest break-even math depends on one thing most calculators skip: whether you'd actually invest what you save.
A lease payment almost always looks smaller than a loan payment on the same car — the six-year total tells a different story, and it isn't close.
A paid-off car's worst repair year rarely costs a quarter of what twelve months of a new-car payment runs — the actual numbers, by vehicle age.
Approval math and comfortable math aren't the same test — the 20/4/10 rule catches everything a payment-only calculation leaves out.
An ARM's lower start rate is real savings — until the reset. Here's exactly when the break-even flips against you.
Two factors move your score before a big purchase, and one of them can shift within a single billing cycle.
A five-page Closing Disclosure with a cash-to-close number thousands higher than the price and down payment — decoded line by line.
Almost all the reassurance of new, at a real discount — but “almost all the reassurance” and “a real discount” both hide specifics worth checking.
The 15-year term wins on total interest by an amount most buyers never see spelled out — here's exactly how much.
The number that actually sets your borrowing ceiling, and the one most first-time buyers have never calculated for themselves.
The math favors one method. Human behavior often favors the other. Which one actually gets your debt paid off first.
2,746 active down payment assistance programs nationwide — and most buyers who'd qualify never look, because of two wrong assumptions.
“You'll always get more selling it yourself” is true often enough to repeat as fact — and wrong often enough to cost real money.
The exact same $300,000 home can carry a monthly cost hundreds of dollars apart, depending purely on which state it's in.
Reserves are the number most lenders barely require and most advisors insist on anyway — here's the realistic version for a first-time buyer.
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