Work out the payment before you fall for the house
A listing price is not a monthly payment. Property tax, insurance and dues all arrive with the mortgage, and they are the part buyers forget.
The planner is free and takes a minute. It uses your own saved assumptions if you have them.
$500,000 at 6.5% over 30 years
With a $100,000 deposit, that is a $400,000 loan. Here is where the monthly payment goes, to the dollar.
Every month
$3,137
20% down, 80% loan to value
- Interest over the term
- $510,178
- Everything, all in
- $1,229,178
What is in that payment
- Principal and interest
- $2,528
- Property tax
- $458
- Insurance
- $150
- HOA dues
- $0
These are our default assumptions: 1.1% tax a year, $1,800 of insurance, no HOA dues. Your own numbers will differ, which is exactly what the planner is for.
Three levers, in order of size
Rates are set by lenders and nobody here can tell you what you will be offered. What we can do is show you what each lever does to the number.
The rate
The single biggest lever. Half a point more on a $400,000 loan is about $133 a month, which is $47,858 over the life of it.
The term
A 15 year loan costs more each month and far less overall. On this example the loan payment rises by 38% and the interest falls by 55%.
The deposit
More down means a smaller loan, and it can also mean a better rate. Both effects compound over the life of the loan.
Save your numbers once
Enter your deposit, rate and term, and the payment estimate follows you around: it replaces our defaults on every listing you look at, so you are comparing homes against your budget rather than against a stranger's.
See what your budget buys
Put in your numbers and compare them against the homes on the market today.