The math at $300k
$300,000 a year is $25,000 a month gross; the 28/36 guideline allows ~$7,000 for housing and $9,000 for all debts. Take-home lands very roughly around $15,500–$17,000 a month depending on filing status and equity-compensation timing — so the guideline payment is, once again, about 42–45% of net. The pattern holds at every income: 28% of gross never feels like 28%.
Worked example at 7% (an example rate): $1.1M home, 20% down → $880k loan → $5,855 P&I + ~$1,054 property tax + ~$290 insurance = ~$7,200 a month, sitting right at the guideline. A larger down payment or a rate half a point lower is what opens the range toward $1.3M.
The conforming line — the most valuable border in your county
Loans up to the conforming limit get sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; loans above it are jumbo, a different underwriting world. For 2026 the baseline limit is $832,750, rising to $1,249,125 in high-cost counties like Los Angeles, Orange, and much of the Bay Area (FHFA). Three practical consequences:
- Know your county's number before you shop. An $880k loan is high-balance conforming in LA — and jumbo in Sacramento. Same loan, different rules, potentially different rate.
- You can structure around the line. A slightly larger down payment — or an 80/10/10 piggyback (first loan at 80%, a second for 10%, 10% down) — can keep the first mortgage conforming when it matters.
- But price both sides. Jumbo isn't automatically more expensive — banks compete hard for jumbo borrowers with strong files, and sometimes beat conforming pricing. This is a “get quotes on both structures” bracket, not a rule-of-thumb bracket.
How lenders count income that isn't salary
At $300k, income is often salary plus — RSUs, bonus, commission, K-1 distributions. Underwriting doesn't take your offer letter's word for it:
- RSUs and bonuses typically need a ~2-year history to count, get averaged, and may be haircut based on the stock's volatility and what's still scheduled to vest. Vesting that ends next year may not count at all.
- New job, big raise? Base salary usually counts right away with an executed offer and a start date; the variable comp mostly doesn't, yet.
- The practical translation: your W-2 might say $300k while underwriting says $230k. If your comp is heavy on equity, get fully underwritten — not just pre-qualified — before you fall for a specific house.
Jumbo underwriting is a different sport
If you do land in jumbo territory, expect: reserve requirements (commonly 6–12 months of full housing payments in liquid or near-liquid accounts, after the down payment), tighter DTI caps (often ~43%), heavier documentation, and slower appraisals — some lenders want two on larger loans. None of this is a problem if you plan for it; all of it is a problem if you discover it in a 21-day escrow.
The tax picture at $1.2 million
Educational, not tax advice — bring your CPA into this before you offer (our CPA guide covers who to hire):
- Property tax: ~1.1–1.25% of purchase price ≈ $13,000–$15,000 a year on a $1.2M home, plus the one-time supplemental catch-up bill after closing.
- Mortgage interest deduction: capped at the interest on $750k of loan balance — above that, the marginal interest isn't deductible.
- SALT deduction: the federal cap was raised to $40,000 for 2025 (inching up ~1% a year through 2029), with a phase-down for incomes above $500,000 and a scheduled return to $10,000 in 2030 — at a $300k income with $14k of property tax plus California income tax, this materially changes the after-tax cost of owning versus the old $10k-cap era.
- The point: at this bracket, the sticker payment and the after-tax cost can differ by four figures a month. An hour with a CPA before you set your budget is the cheapest professional help you'll buy all year.
The ceiling isn't the point
Qualifying for $1.3M and being well-served by $1.3M are different facts. At this bracket the marginal $200k of house competes with everything else $2,600 a month could do — and single-income fragility applies to high earners more, not less, because the payments are bigger and the comp is often equity-heavy and cyclical. Temporary buydowns (a 2-1 buydown funded by a seller credit) and points are worth pricing at this scale; buying your absolute maximum rarely is.