Affordability
Definition of "Affordability"
The definition of affordability in real estate is simply a buyer’s capacity to afford a house. Affordability is usually expressed in terms of the maximum amount a buyer will be able to pay for a house, and subsequently be approved for a loan in order to pay this amount. In real estate, this is known as the maximum affordable sale price, and it can be empirically calculated with relative ease.
To calculate the maximum affordable sales price, you’ll need to take into account three different metrics by which the maximum affordable sales price is calculated. These are the income rule, the debt rule and the cash rule. After calculating each of these numbers, affordability will be the lowest of the three. Let’s take a closer look at each of these rules in turn, and see exactly how they come into play in calculating the maximum affordable sales price.
The Income Rule in Affordability
This rule states that a borrower's monthly housing expense (MHE), which is the sum of the mortgage payment, property taxes and homeowner insurance premium, cannot exceed a percentage of the borrower's income specified by the lender. Once you’ve calculated a buyer’s MHE, you have their maximum affordable sales price according to the income rule.
The Debt Rule in Affordability
The debt rule says that the borrower's total housing expense (THE), which is the sum of the MHE plus monthly payments on existing debt, cannot exceed a percentage of the borrower's income specified by the lender. Once calculated, this number is often lower than the number that you might arrive at using the income rule, making it essential for calculating the maximum affordable sales price.
The cash rule in Affordability
The required cash rule says that the borrower must have cash sufficient to meet the down payment requirement plus other settlement costs. When the cash rule sets the limit on the maximum sale price, the borrower is said to be cash constrained. This number can be raised by lowering the down payment.
Popular Mortgage Terms
A facility offered by some lenders to mortgage brokers where de jure the brokers become employees of the lender but de facto they retain their independence as brokers. One of the ...
The amount the borrower promises to repay, as set forth in the loan contract. The loan amount may exceed the original amount requested by the borrower if he or she elects to include ...
A borrower, usually refinancing rather than purchasing a home, who allows a lock to expire when interest rates go down in order to lock again at the lower rate. ...
The definition of interest is extremely important in today’s business environment where lending and borrowing money are the power stations of our economy. A widespread definition of ...
Deceptive practices used by mortgage loan providers and other participants in the mortgage process. Scams by Loan Providers: Lenders and mortgage brokers may employ a number of tricks ...
A mortgage on which the payment rises by a constant percent for a specified number of periods, after which it becomes fully-amortizing. ...
A revers mortgage program administered by Fannie Mae. ...
Standards imposed by lenders as conditions for granting loans, including maximum ratios of housing expense and total expense to income, maximum loan amounts, maximum loan-to-value ...
The monthly mortgage payment which, if maintained unchanged through the remaining life of the loan at the then-existing interest rate, will pay off the loan at term. ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.