See where you stand before you talk to anyone.
Seven questions about credit, savings, income, debt and timing. You get a readiness picture, the loan paths worth exploring, and what to line up first — not an approval, and not a sales call.
Nothing here is submitted, stored, or shared. There is no credit check. The result is calculated in your browser from what you select, and it disappears when you close the page.
Want a real review?
A quiz cannot verify income, pull credit, or reserve program funds. When you want the real answer, a specialist can review your actual documents and current program limits.
Request a reviewWhat the seven questions are actually measuring
A lender looks at five things when deciding what you can borrow. The quiz asks about the same five, in the order they usually become a problem.
Credit score
Score sets which loans are open to you before anything else is considered. At 580 an FHA loan allows 3.5% down; between 500 and 579 that minimum rises to 10%. At 620 the conventional 3%-down programs come into range. Moving from 610 to 620 can change your options more than saving another few thousand dollars.
Cash saved
The down payment is only part of what you need at closing. Buyer closing costs in Florida commonly run another 2% to 5% of the price, and inspection, appraisal and earnest money are paid before closing day rather than at it. This is the number most first-time buyers underestimate.
Income against debt
Lenders compare your total monthly obligations, including the future housing payment, against gross income. Around 43% is a common guide. Car payments and student loans reduce what is left for a mortgage, which is why paying down a car loan can raise your price range faster than a raise does.
Whether you have owned before
Most first-time buyer programs require that you have not owned a home in the last three years. It counts more broadly than people expect: an inherited share, a property held with a former spouse, or a home in another country can all count depending on the program.
Military service
A VA loan needs no down payment with full entitlement and carries no monthly mortgage insurance, which makes it the strongest option for anyone eligible. Eligibility runs through a Certificate of Eligibility, and a surviving spouse may qualify.
When you want to buy
Timing changes the advice more than it changes the math. Buying soon means getting pre-approved before you tour. Buying a year out means not pulling credit yet, because a pre-approval expires and the inquiry does nothing for you that early.
What a quiz cannot tell you
The result is arithmetic on ranges you selected. It does not verify income, pull credit, confirm which assistance programs currently have funds, or account for the property itself — and in Miami-Dade the property matters. Insurance is priced on roof age and flood zone, condo financing depends on the building's reserves and inspection status, and association dues sit inside the same monthly payment as the mortgage.
Two buyers with identical answers can get different outcomes for reasons no quiz can see: how income is documented, how recent a credit event was, whether a gift is properly sourced. Treat this as a way to find out what to work on first, then get the real answer from a lender who can look at your documents.