What Can I Afford?

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•  Looking at monthly take-home pay, not salary
• Factoring in shift variability, overtime, burnout risk
• Stress-testing: “Would I still feel okay with this payment after 3 rough months at work?”

 In a market like Denver, this step is everything. Prices can stretch people into bad decisions fast. You are the only one that can answer this question. Qualifying ratios are nice, debt-to-income numbers give some folks a certain comfort level (mainly underwriters), but everyone has a different vantage point. What number leaves you comfortable? What number leaves you cold? A financially healthy target payment is between 28-33% of your gross monthly income. Mortgage rules will allow you to have a payment bordering on 50%, but is that wise? Once we determine your income and debts, we can set up 3 hypothetical housing payments:  

• Conservative ($) 
• Comfortable ($$) 
• Stretch ($$$)

 I would advise we lean towards the “Comfortable” in almost all situations. Why? Because nursing income can feel deceptively high when overtime is flowing. You never want the mortgage to require burnout.