How much home can I afford if I am self-employed?

It comes down to your qualifying income, your other monthly debts, and the lender's allowed debt-to-income (DTI) ratio. Multiply qualifying income by the DTI, subtract existing debts, and the remainder is your housing budget — which converts to a loan amount and home price at a given rate and down payment.

What DTI do non-QM lenders allow for self-employed borrowers?

Many non-QM and bank-statement programs allow a debt-to-income ratio up to 50%, higher than the typical 43–45% on a conventional loan. A higher allowed DTI means more buying power for the same income.

Does self-employment lower how much I can borrow?

Not inherently — it changes how income is documented. A bank-statement or asset-based program can credit income a tax-return-based loan would miss, so a self-employed borrower often qualifies for more through non-QM than through a conventional loan.

Self-Employed Affordability Calculator

How much home can you actually afford? Enter your qualifying income and we'll show the price range a non-QM lender will support — using the up-to-50% DTI these programs allow, not the tighter limits of a conventional loan.

Your Income & Debts

Qualifying monthly income

Not sure? Run the Bank Statement Income calculator first, then bring that number here.

Other monthly debts

Car loans, credit-card minimums, student loans.

Loan Assumptions

Estimated rate

Loan term

Max DTI

50%

Many non-QM programs allow up to 50%.

Down payment

10%

Taxes + insurance

%/yr

Annual % of home price.

Monthly HOA

What You Can Afford

Estimated home price

$0 loan + $0 down

Enter your qualifying monthly income to see the home price it supports.

Estimate only. Final approval depends on the lender's guidelines.

How affordability works for the self-employed

Affordability is driven by three numbers: your qualifying income, your existing debts, and the lender's allowed debt-to-income ratio. The first one is where self-employed borrowers win or lose — document it with a bank-statement or asset-based program and you often qualify for more than a tax-return loan would allow.

Housing budget = (Income × DTI) − existing debts

Non-QM programs commonly stretch DTI to 50%. That extra headroom — versus the ~43% on a conventional loan — can mean a meaningfully larger home for the same income.

Self-Employed Affordability Calculator

What You Can Afford

How affordability works for the self-employed

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