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Debt To Income Ratio
Your debt to income ratio is very important if you plan on investing in real estate. The bank will calculator it the first time your talk to them about obtaining a mortgage because it tells them if you have reach your debt capacity.
Right now it's a tough economy so the banks are only allowing about a 40% debt to income ratio compared to 50% in a good economy. The reason is all based on risk for the banks and right now real estate is a very high risk because of the sluggish economy.
Your debt ratio ties in very closely to your borrowing power because it's weighing the amount you can borrow with the bank. If you divide your monthly expenses into your gross monthly income you will get your debt percentage. You can keep adding to that debt until you get to a 40% mark and maybe even a bit higher.
The bank wont cut you off just because you reached an exact 40%. They will weigh in your credit score and credit history in order to come up with the final approval or denial of the mortgage.
An online calculator will help you figure out your mortgage payment and you can find the taxes on the real estate listings. That should give you about everything you need to figure out your debt to income ratio and your borrowing power before you go to the bank and possibly get embarrassed. I have a mortgage calculator and a borrowing power calculator on my website for free. They are great tools to use when buying a home. | 
