Mortgage Calculator

Estimates the monthly cost of a home loan — including the parts that turn a manageable payment into an unmanageable one.

Inputs

Location — country, and where applicable your state or region and zip code. Location matters here because property tax rates vary enormously by area, and property tax is often the difference between a payment you're comfortable with and one you aren't.

Home Amount — the purchase price.

Down Payment — what you're putting down.

Interest Rate — your quoted or expected rate.

Optional:

• ›Mortgage Insurance — typically required below a 20% down payment
• ›Home Insurance — your annual premium

Fill in the optional fields

They're marked optional and they're the reason people's real payment comes in higher than they expected.

A principal-and-interest figure is not what you pay. Add taxes, mortgage insurance, and home insurance and the real number is routinely 20–30% above it. Buyers who budget against the P&I figure discover this at closing.

Enter them.

What to do with the result

Compare down payments. Run it at several down payment levels. Two things move at once — the payment falls, and past a threshold mortgage insurance drops away entirely. That second effect is often larger than people expect and can justify waiting a few months to save more.

Compare terms. A shorter term costs more monthly and dramatically less overall. Run both and look at the total, not just the payment.

Compare locations. Same house price, different area, different property tax — sometimes a substantial difference in monthly cost.

Then take it to your budget

The payment on its own tells you whether you can technically afford it. Your budget tells you what it costs you.

Enter the figure under Housing and rebuild. You'll see what the mortgage does to your debt-free date and your savings trajectory — which is the question that actually matters and the one a standalone mortgage calculator can't answer.

Do this before you make an offer, not after.

What it doesn't include

Homeownership costs more than the mortgage. Not included here:

• ›Closing costs
• ›HOA dues
• ›Maintenance and repairs
• ›Utilities, which usually rise when moving from renting to owning

Add the recurring ones to Expenses when you build your budget. A common rule of thumb sets aside 1–2% of the home's value annually for maintenance.

If you already have a mortgage

This calculator prices a new loan. To model paying down an existing one faster, use Early Mortgage Payoff.

If you're renting

Rent Affordability is the equivalent tool.