I'm using this guide from r/RelocationHelp to help me pick areas to select listings

I'll be using highland Park, University Park, and Coppell for examples.

I'll go through 3 examples:

1. The minimum you'd have to make to qualify for a mortgage. (49% gross income assuming you had literally $0 other debt)
2. The Dave Ramsey rule (25% of net income)
3. Somewhere in the middle at 30% of your gross income

I'll be looking for a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house with around 1,500 sq ft and maybe a decent sized yard.

I'll be looking at property taxes for the listing, and I'll be doing an estimate on homeowners insurance.

FYI, property taxes in TX are some of the highest in the nation.

I'll also assume a 20% down payment, but just know that you can get into a home without putting 20% down payment. The mortgage would just come with a mortgage insurance payment.

Also, I'm going to use an interest rate found on mortgage news daily, which has averages around 6.2% for conventional lending.

Median house price around Dallas TX is around $450k so hopefully I'll find something for that.

Highland Park

Okay here's a listi-

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4600-S-Versailles-Ave-Highland-Park-TX-75209/27202851_zpid

Okay, so I picked Highland park because of the good marks on crime, but apparently this is a million dollar property.

Estimate is $1,099,900

for a 3 bed 3 bath home at 1,832 sq ft

There's no going back, this was the only listing I could find within the last 90 days.

With 20% down payment ($219,980), here's a rough estimate what you'd have to make to buy this house:

• 49% gross lender minimum: $172,285 /year (remember, assuming you had literally $0 other debts)
• 25% net rule: $430,560 /year
• 30% gross rule: $281,400 /year

How I came up with that

Principal and interest monthly payment: $5,389 / mth

Property taxes ($12,352 / 12 = $1,029 / mth

Homeowners insurance, my best was $7,412 / year or $617 / mth

Total monthly payment around $7,035

$7,035 x 12 = $84,420

Then divide by the 30% gross rule $84,420 / 0.3

or for lender minimum, divide by 0.49

Let's see if I can find anything better at University Park.....

You know what, the only listing I could see was a bit more than this. So let's go to Coppell...

Coppell

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/241-Tanbark-Cir-Coppell-TX-75019/26969644_zpid

That's more realistic

$405k for a 3 bed 2 bath 1,578 sq ft home sold a few days ago (10/27/25)

Property taxes = $2,131 Zillow is probably wrong here, so I'm going to go with about $9k property taxes or $750 per month.

HOI best guess $4k per year or $333 per month

Principal and interest after 20% down payment would be around $1,984 per month.

With a total around $3,067

Here's what you'd have to make:

• Lender minimum if you have $0 in other debts: $75,110 / yr
• 30% gross: $122,680 /yr
• 25% net: $210,308 / yr

If you need other help

If you're looking around Dallas, but don't have enough saved for a down payment, or are looking for grants or first time buyer help, check out this down payment assistance guide I made. Texas is on it, and has local programs. Good luck!