
Show HN: I'm tired of BANKS telling me how much I can afford - xtramustard101
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.homevisor.io&#x2F;<p>As a finance professional and homeowner, I&#x27;m astonished that there aren&#x27;t any better tools or ways to help people distinguish and better plan how much home they should be purchasing. Banks will always discuss the maximum they&#x27;re able to lend, which can often differ greatly from what may be realistic (especially considering future expenses).<p>To that effect, I created this website as a fun project. Open to any&#x2F;all feedback, including open-sourcing and making a community-driven project. Right now it&#x27;s just Squarespace + JS code.<p>Hopefully you find it helpful :)
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JMTQp8lwXL
I would like if you gave me both the 'bank number' and the 'financial
advisor'-recommended number. I'm curious to understand the magnitude of the
difference, but not curious enough to complete an application with a bank.

Also, I notice your income calculator is linear: Income | Max Limit

$75k, $322k

$150k, $645k

$300k, $1.29m

I've heard for higher incomes, affordability tends to be non-linear since
other life expenses (food, clothing, etc) remain fixed-- allowing you to
allocate more disposable income towards housing. The calculator does not
reflect this.

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sna1l
One thing I would make sure to add is in the affordability calculator (income-
based), I'd make sure to clarify what income you want (gross or post-tax) and
to clarify if people should include credit card payments (ongoing debt vs
regular monthly debt).

One thing I've noticed missing from normal affordability calculators is
"regular credit card" spending. For example, if I am spending 5000 a month on
expenses, then when I purchase a place I may have to change my behavior (and
not really understand that).

Also would be great to allow people to select a state to determine taxes more
accurately.

A nice to have in the future would be aggregating payment methods between
different mortgage companies. There are a lot of new "mortgage" companies like
Unison (home equity agreement), Flyhomes, etc and all of them offer different
pros/cons. Breaking that down into the actual numbers would be super helpful,
but also might be challenging since I imagine they don't want you to really do
that.

Overall mortgages/finding mortgages/understanding them is a terrible
experience.

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gus_massa
I don't understand. The number you give is less or more than a bank usually
say?

I tried [https://www.homevisor.io/income-
based](https://www.homevisor.io/income-based)

If I don't fill "The Mortgage Type" and I press "Calculate" then nothing
happens. I expect some friendly error like "Remember to fill the mortgage
type" or a red sign on the side.

If I select "30 Year Fixed" then it is very difficult to change it. I have to
delete all the sentence to select another option.

Why I can not select "20 Year Fixed"? Perhaps it is not usual in USA, but here
in Argentina you can choose shorter times.

Why does it has a "Start Over" button? If I change the "Monthly Debt Payments"
and I press "Calculate", I expect to see the new result.

