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Buyer Confidence Score: how it works

Your Buyer Confidence Score is a weighted blend of five components of home-buying readiness — affordability, down payment, debt-to-income, credit health, and cash reserves — each scored 0–100 from your own figures and standard, published lending guidelines.

Step by step

  1. We estimate a full monthly payment (principal, interest, property tax, insurance, and PMI when the down payment is under 20%) for your target price using a standard amortization formula.
  2. Affordability compares that payment with the widely published ~28% housing-payment guideline; debt-to-income compares all monthly debt with the ~36% guideline.
  3. The down-payment component assumes you put up to 20% down (avoiding PMI) and keep anything above that as reserves; reserves are measured in months of housing payment lenders like to see.
  4. Credit health is scored from your self-reported band and the rate tier it typically unlocks — educational only, no credit pull.
  5. Your estimated price range is found by solving for the price whose full payment fits the debt-to-income guideline given your income, debts, and savings.

The math

Monthly P&I = L·r/(1−(1+r)^−n) with monthly rate r and n payments (public-domain amortization). DTI guidelines per the classic 28/36 rule.

Sources

The exact component weightings and banding thresholds are proprietary; the inputs, payment math, and guidelines above are fully disclosed.