Credit, Cash, Income: The Three Numbers That Actually Matter
Every homebuying conversation I have eventually comes back to the same three things: credit, cash, and income. Not because it's a catchy list — because those three numbers genuinely determine everything else.
Your credit affects which loan programs you can use, your interest rate pricing, and your mortgage insurance cost. Your available cash determines your down payment options and how much cushion you keep after closing. Your income (relative to your debt) drives your debt-to-income ratio, which caps how much house payment you can realistically take on.
Here's the part that surprises people: you can be fully qualified on paper and still decide a payment doesn't make sense for your life. Qualification and comfort are two different questions, and conflating them is how people end up house-poor.
If you don't know where you stand on these three things yet, that's the actual starting point — before you look at a single listing.
FAQ
Which of the three matters most?
It depends on your situation — for some buyers, credit is the limiting factor; for others, it's cash or income. That's exactly what the readiness assessment is built to sort out.
Want to talk through how this applies to you?
Every article is general education — your situation is specific. Let's talk about yours.