Why QualRate exists
Most people start shopping for a home with a guess about what they can afford. Plenty of renters with steady income, a score in the 600s and a few debts assume they're years away when the math says they could buy now. QualRate puts the real math in your hands: the same debt-to-income limits, mortgage insurance, fees and loan limits a lender uses, applied to your own numbers.
The site covers qualifying for a home loan and nothing else. It's for first-time buyers, renters thinking about owning, homeowners, real estate agents checking a buyer on the spot, and investors running a rental through a DSCR loan.
Who's behind it
QualRate is offered by AAA Capital Funding, Inc., a mortgage broker in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in business since 1997 (NMLS #374739). AAA lends throughout Florida, for purchases and refinances, across every credit range.
Because AAA is a broker, it shops multiple wholesale lenders for each borrower. That's where the rules in these calculators come from: years of fitting real borrowers to real guidelines on FHA, VA, USDA, Conventional and DSCR loans, including co-signer approvals and FHA 100% financing with down payment assistance.
How the calculators work
Every calculator runs the agency rules as written:
- FHA follows HUD's Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 and HUD's mortgagee letters, modeled at 46.9% housing and 56.9% total debt-to-income with automated approval.
- Conventional follows the Fannie Mae Selling Guide, with a 50% total ratio.
- VA follows the VA Lenders Handbook, including the residual income test.
- USDA follows the HB-1-3555 technical handbook, with its 29% and 41% ratios and income limits.
FHA and conforming loan limits are pulled from HUD's published data each year, so the loan limits lookup and every price on the site reflect the current year. Your numbers carry from one calculator to the next, starting with the main affordability calculator.
The example rate is a 5.75% 30-year fixed, and you can change it on every tool. Florida tax and insurance defaults are starting points, and you can replace them with real quotes.
Who writes the guides
The QualRate guides are written by the AAA Capital Funding, Inc. team, people who work these loans every day. Each guide is checked against the primary source it cites, and the sources are listed at the bottom of every guide. Start with how much house can I afford or debt-to-income ratio explained.
To talk through what the calculators show you, call AAA Capital Funding at 888-601-8344. We're glad to go over it with you, and there's no pressure to do anything with it.