With home buyers contending with fluctuating interest rates and sky-high home prices, realtor.com has introduced a buying power tool to help home shoppers see whether a specific home is “affordable,” “a stretch,” “difficult” or “out of reach.” It uses a home a shopper’s specific financial details, current mortgage rates, taxes, insurance and HOA fees to determine if the monthly payments will be comfortable.
Buying power labels now appear directly on home listings on realtor.com, making it the first national home search site where shoppers can filter their search by selecting their desired affordability range.
Recent Realtor.com surveys found that more than two-thirds (68%) of shoppers were surprised by what they could afford for their first home. Additionally, 32% of recent buyers found it difficult to understand how changing mortgage rates affected their monthly payments and 62% were surprised by closing costs. Realtor.com’s affordability calculator and buying power tool can help prevent these unhappy surprises during the home buying process, the organization said.
To calculate buying power, visitors to the affordability calculator enter their income, monthly debt payments and available funds. By saving this information to their profile, listings on realtor.com will include an affordability label – “affordable,” “a stretch,” “difficult” or “out of reach.” Users can also filter their search by homes that are within their desired affordability range.
