[quote=bearishgurl]
Are some buyers today incurring too much debt for their families to realistically handle going forward? I would guess that many (most?) mortgage lenders don’t use MR and HOA monthly expense (BOTH can be exorbitant) when calculating monthly PITI in front end/back end ratios for qualification purposes.
Any mortgage brokers here, please feel free to correct me on this.[/quote]

Debt ratios are factored using ALL minimum monthly payments on a credit report + proposed mortgage payment INCLUDING principal, interest, taxes, insurance, HOA, (AND Mello Roos, which is normally included in the property taxes)

In general, the guidelines do not care how many dollars you owe, they only care about the minimum monthly payments that show on a credit report.

**MAJOR hassles can occur to this formula when:
a)There is an open large HELOC (on a refi) that has nothing drawn against it.
b) Large car payment that only has a few months left to pay
c)Student loans that are deferred
d)Debt that was co-signed for even though borrower does not make the payment