How much money do I need to make in order to afford this home? (HINT: pre-qualify yourself before looking for home)

A good rule of thumb for renters is your gross income should equal or exceed 3 times the rent.

This leaves two thirds (2/3) of your income for all those other things like utilities, car payments, credit card, food, clothing, entertainment and hopefully, some savings for the future.

Any less money, and you don’t have much left for anything else.

An exception to this is if you have other government income (food stamps) or a housing voucher like section 8 in which case you have to alter the formula slightly.  In general however your household would need to make:

1. $2100 monthly to afford $700 in rent
2. $2700 monthly to afford $900 in rent
3. $3000 monthly to afford $1000 in rent
4. $6000 monthly to afford $200 in rent

We do prefer to see at least one of the applicants make 3 times rent though depending on the situation we may allow qualification based on combined income of all signers.