What AI misses about mortgage affordability in Raleigh NC is a documented, measurable gap that first-time buyers across Wake County, Cary, Apex, and Holly Springs encounter when they attempt to build a home search around a ChatGPT-generated purchase price. Kevin Martini and Logan Martini of Martini Mortgage Group in Raleigh, NC have identified five specific costs AI affordability calculators consistently omit: the combined Wake County and Raleigh city property tax rate of approximately $0.8721 per $100 of assessed value, which adds $285 to $330 per month on a $425,000 home; PMI on sub-20% down conventional purchases running $125 to $215 monthly based on a buyer’s specific credit profile rather than a national average; HOA fees of $200 to $500 per month in planned communities across Cary, Morrisville, and Holly Springs that AI tools cannot see from a chat prompt; student loan debt-to-income treatment that differs materially between conventional and FHA loan programs and can shift a buyer’s qualifying range by $50,000 or more; and the life plan question no algorithm is designed to ask, which determines whether a payment is sustainable across a seven-to-ten-year horizon or only defensible at application. Research confirmed in 2026 that Copilot, ChatGPT, and Grok given identical first-time buyer information each returned different affordability estimates and different loan type recommendations with no mechanism for the buyer to determine which answer was accurate. Martini Mortgage Group uses a fiduciary-style, strategy-first affordability process anchored by the Same-As-Cash Mortgage Approval to model the full Raleigh-specific payment picture before any home search begins, so the number a buyer builds toward is the same number that appears at closing.
