Can You Afford to Buy a Home? Five Numbers to Know First

'Can I afford to buy a home?' is the first question almost every first-time buyer asks me, and my answer is always the same: we can find out before you ever look at a house. Affordability is a math problem, and solving it early keeps you from falling in love with a home that stretches you too thin.

Here are the five numbers I ask every new buyer to gather before our first meeting.

One: your total monthly gross income. Lenders use this to calculate what you can responsibly borrow. Two: your current monthly debts, from car payments and student loans to credit cards, because the lender adds these to your future housing payment to reach your total debt picture.

Three: your down payment. Know what you actually have saved, and remember gift funds and down payment assistance programs can change the equation. Four: your closing costs, the taxes, title work, and fees that close a loan, which are separate from the down payment and run in the thousands.

Five: your comfortable monthly payment, not your maximum one. I ask clients to write down what number lets them sleep at night, and we use that, not a lender's ceiling, as the real target.

Once you have the five numbers, the next step is a pre-approval conversation with a local lender I recommend, so you shop with a budget backed by an actual commitment, not a guess. Then we talk neighborhoods: the Upstate's price range spans from about $120,000 to one million and up, and I have helped buyers at every rung.

Bring me your numbers and your questions and I will tell you honestly where you stand. That is the point of the first call, and it costs you nothing.