Do you know how much home you can really afford?

Now that the New Year is off and running, and the holiday financial hangover just beginning, many of you are likely sitting down to revamp your budgets. If finances have been tight, or if you’re thinking about buying a new home in 2015, you may want to go over your expenses and examine how much mortgage you can really afford.

The Real Life Ratio calculator, introduced by Rob Carrick of the Globe, isn’t a typical mortgage calculator. Rather, it takes into consideration your real cost of living—the numbers that don’t appear in traditional calculators, like daycare expenses and home maintenance costs.

It might be worth checking out if you have a feeling that you’re bordering the definition of “house poor” or if you’re wondering how much of a new home you can really afford. The exercise may highlight areas of your life that you have to eliminate to create some breathing room—or convince you that you really can’t afford that home in your dream neighbourhood.

If you are tight on cash, feel free to drop me a line to explore how your mortgage might be able to help in that respect.