One of the things that struck me a couple of years ago when I was buying a home, was that different mortgage brokers and lenders told me how much I could afford. After looking at my income and my debt load, they came up with a number that would get me into a bigger (and presumably better) home. This number was invariably between 30% and 36% of my monthly income. One broker came back and told me I qualified for a mortgage payment of 40% of my monthly income!
Clearly, this is not something I was comfortable with. In fact, you …read more

Unbroke and mortgages: 1/3 of gross income may not be the best scenario. You could do better.