Free educational tool · Independent · No sign-up
How much home can you buy with your VA benefit?
An honest estimate from real VA underwriting math. It isn’t a rate quote or a pre-approval. It’s a starting picture you can check for yourself, and it takes about a minute.
Real VA underwriting mathNothing to sign up forEvery number checkable at the source
Your monthly salary or base pay before taxes. BAH has its own field below.
Car, student loans, credit-card minimums.
Active duty: your housing allowance. Not sure? Look it up in the BAH tool.
Subsistence allowance. Flat monthly rate; enlisted and officer differ.
Your estimate. We do not quote rates.
Austin · estimating 1.74% property tax
Everyone in the home. This drives the VA residual-income requirement.
Auto-set from ZIP; the residual table varies by region.
Drives the $0.14/sq ft maintenance + utilities estimate.
Estimated · TX has no state income tax. Edit to match your paystub.
Funding fee is 2.15% for first use, 3.30% for subsequent.
Educational tool. Estimates only based on standard VA underwriting guidelines and the inputs you provide. Not a rate quote, pre-qualification, or commitment to lend.
Estimated buying power
$245,050
Home price you could finance with no down payment in Austin.
- Loan amount
- $250,318
- Funding fee (2.15%)
- $5,269
- Principal + interest
- $1,582 / mo
- Property tax (1.74%)
- $355 / mo
- Insurance
- $125 / mo
- Total monthly
- $2,063 / mo
Need a starting rate? Mortgage News Daily publishes free daily market averages: 30-year VA and 30-year conventional for comparison. Those are market averages from an independent publisher, not quotes from this site; enter whatever rate a lender actually offers you.
How it works
From your numbers to a clear picture, in three short steps.
Nobody calls you afterward, because we never get your number. You move at your own pace.
STEP 01
Enter your numbers
Income, debt, ZIP, and a rate you have seen quoted recently. That's it. We never ask who you are.
Sixty seconds
STEP 02
Get an honest estimate
Real VA underwriting math. We show you the buying-power number, the full monthly breakdown, and the assumptions behind every line.
Instant
STEP 03
Go as deep as you want
Each piece of the math behind your number has its own plain-language guide if you want to dig deeper. They're free, and they don't end in a pitch.
When you're ready
How the math actually works
Three constraints decide what you can afford. The VA benefit changes one of them.
01 / Income vs debt
The 41% DTI ceiling
VA underwriting allows total debts including the new mortgage up to 41% of your gross monthly income. Most lenders treat this as the binding constraint.
02 / Cash after expenses
Residual income
VA cares less about ratios and more about the cash you have left after everything is paid. Strong residual income can lift you above the 41% line.
03 / The benefit
No down, no PMI
Full entitlement removes the largest barrier in conventional lending. With full entitlement, there is no county loan limit for a VA loan.
Verifiable
Every number on this site is one you can check.
Method
VA Pamphlet 26-7
Underwriting formulas follow the VA lender handbook
Data
Official tables
Residual income and funding fee figures from published government sources
Independence
Unaffiliated
No lender sponsorship, no lead sales, no paid rankings
Rates
Yours to enter
We never display or advertise a rate. You type the one you've been quoted