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How this mortgage payment looks under different conditions
The 28/36 rule remains the clearest benchmark: your total housing payment (principal, interest, tax, insurance) shouldn't exceed 28% of gross monthly income, and all debt combined shouldn't exceed 36%. Lenders will often approve you for more — but "approved" and "comfortable" are very different things.
PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) is the hidden cost that catches first-time buyers off guard. If your down payment is under 20%, you'll pay an extra 0.5-1.5% of the loan annually until you build enough equity — often adding $100-300/month that doesn't go toward your home, just insurance for the lender.
Property tax rates vary enormously by location — from under 0.5% in some states to over 2% in others. This single variable can change your true monthly payment by hundreds of dollars on an identically-priced home, which is why it's a required input here rather than a hidden assumption.