Same pay stub. Three very different answers.
Uniformed pay is base salary under layers of shift premiums, overtime, paid duty and allowances. How a file reads that variable pay decides what you qualify for. Put your numbers in and see all three readings side by side — base only, the two-year average, and the full picture documented properly.
Your numbers
Shift premiums + overtime + paid duty + allowances, this year's total.
Same definition, last year — the two-year average reading uses both.
Loans, cards, support — not the future mortgage.
Half of condo fees count toward the ratios.
Every file is qualified at the stress-test rate — right now that’s 6.79% (the greater of your rate + 2% and 5.25%).
The rushed reading
Base salary only
Variable pay ignored entirely — what a hurried file review sees.
- Qualifying income
- $92,000
- Payment room (TDS binds)
- $2,278 / mo
- Maximum purchase
- $413,227
The standard reading
Two-year average
Base plus your variable pay averaged over two years — the common conservative convention.
- Qualifying income
- $120,000
- Payment room (TDS binds)
- $3,305 / mo
- Maximum purchase
- $572,399
Documented properly
The full picture
Base plus this year's variable pay, documented as real, recurring income.
- Qualifying income
- $124,000
- Payment room (TDS binds)
- $3,452 / mo
- Maximum purchase
- $595,137
Documented properly, this stub qualifies for $181,911 more purchase than the base-only reading — that's the whole reason this desk exists.
These are readings of a file, not lender programs. Which reading your file actually gets depends on how it’s documented and where it’s placed — that’s the work. Talk to Ramin about yours.
The rules this runs on — and how the math was verified
Qualifying rate = the greater of your contract rate + 2% and 5.25% (the federal stress test). Housing costs are capped at 39% of gross income and all debts at 44% (the insured-standard GDS/TDS ceilings) — whichever binds first sets your payment room. Payments use Canadian semi-annual compounding. Down-payment rules: 5% of the first $500,000 and 10% of the balance, insured purchases cap at $1,499,999, and from $1,500,000 the file needs 20% down.
The engine behind this page passes 31 automated checks — every formula re-derived independently, a $500,000 canonical payment case computed two separate ways, a month-by-month payoff simulation that must die to under a cent, and a fully hand-computed qualifying case the engine must match exactly. Arithmetic last verified August 3, 2026. It’s an illustration built on public rules, not a quote or a commitment to lend.
One of the Mortgage Guru family’s 50+ free calculators — counted honestly.