Mortgage & Housing Calculators
Monthly payments, extra payments, refinancing, affordability and the rent-versus-buy decision.
Calculators
- Mortgage Calculator
Monthly housing payment: principal and interest, property tax, insurance, HOA and PMI.
- Mortgage Extra Payment Calculator
Interest and time saved by extra monthly, yearly or one-time principal payments.
- Refinance Break-Even Calculator
When closing costs are recovered, and total cost over the time you expect to keep the loan.
- Rent vs. Buy Calculator
Compare the net cost of renting and buying over a horizon with your own assumptions.
- Home Affordability Calculator
Estimate a home price from income, debts, housing costs and debt-to-income limits you set.
Which housing calculator fits your question
Housing questions usually arrive in order: what you can afford, what the monthly bill will be, and later whether to pay the loan down faster or replace it. Start from the question you have now.
- How much house could my income support?
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Works back from gross income, existing debt payments and the debt-to-income limits you enter to the highest price whose full monthly cost fits, and says which limit binds.
- What will the monthly payment be?
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Adds property tax, insurance, HOA dues and PMI to principal and interest, and shows the month PMI stops under the cancellation rule you set.
- Is paying extra worth it?
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Mortgage Extra Payment Calculator
Compares the original schedule with monthly, yearly or one-time extras: months saved and interest avoided.
- Would refinancing pay off?
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Refinance Break-Even Calculator
Sets closing costs against the lower payment and compares total cost over the years you expect to keep the loan.
- Should I rent or buy?
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Compares net worth at a horizon you choose, with the renter investing what a buyer would spend on the down payment and closing costs.
Have these to hand
- Your loan estimate or latest statement: balance, note rate, remaining term and principal-and-interest payment.
- Annual property tax, homeowners insurance and any HOA dues.
- Closing costs, including any points, for a purchase or refinance.
Mistakes that change the answer
- Comparing a principal-and-interest figure from one source with a full payment, taxes and insurance included, from another.
- Judging a refinance by the monthly saving alone. Restarting a long term can lower the payment and still raise total interest.
- Entering the APR where the note rate is asked. APR includes fees, so the payment comes out too high.
- Reading the affordability estimate as an approval. Lenders apply their own limits, credit checks and reserve rules.
Related guides
- What’s included in a mortgage payment: PITI, PMI and escrow
The parts of a monthly housing payment, worked through for a $360,000 home with 5% down: what each part costs, which parts change, and the payment on which PMI drops off.
- How loan amortization works, with a worked schedule
The payment formula, how each payment splits between interest and principal, why the last payment is off by a few cents, when principal overtakes interest on a long loan, and what extra payments and negative amortization do to the schedule.
- Rent vs. buy: the assumptions that decide the answer
Which inputs move a rent-or-buy comparison the most, tested one at a time on a worked $400,000 example with every number shown.
- Extra mortgage payments: what they save and what they cost
What extra principal payments save in interest and time, what they cost in cash you can’t easily get back, and how prepaying compares with investing, recasting and paying other debts first.
- How to compare loan offers: APR, fees and total cost
Match the offers on cash received and term, then compare APR and total cost. A worked $15,000 example shows how fees, longer terms and early payoff can change which offer is cheaper.
- Rental property cash flow: NOI, cap rate, cash-on-cash and DSCR
Follow one example duplex from scheduled rent to net operating income to cash flow, see why its cap rate, cash-on-cash return and DSCR disagree, and find out how little it takes to turn the cash flow negative.