If you feel that you are ready to buy a home, you should consider the financials before you look. That way, you aren’t going to be disappointed when you apply for financing after mistakenly looking above your budget.

Here are six steps to make sure you are in the right ballpark:

1. Know your lender’s ratios.
2. Calculate your front-end ratio maximum payment.
3. Add up your monthly debts.
4. Calculate your back-end ratio maximum payment.
5. Use the lower of the two payments to set your budget.
6. Make sure your payment is actually affordable to you.

To learn more about what each of these steps entails, read USA Today’s recent article 6 simple steps to figure out how much house you can afford.

6 simple steps to figure out how much house you can afford
Matthew Frankel, The Motley Fool
USAToday.com, Feb. 19, 2017