Mortgage Calculator
Use our mortgage calculator to estimate your monthly mortgage payment. You can input a different home price, down payment, loan term and interest rate to see how your monthly payment changes.
Our monthly payment estimates are broken down by principal and interest, property taxes and homeowners insurance. We take our calculator a step further by factoring in your credit score range, zip code and HOA fees to give you a more precise payment estimate. You’ll also go into the home-buying process with a more accurate picture of how to calculate mortgage payments and purchase with confidence. After you run some estimates, read on for more education and home-buying tips.
Calculate your rate
Your total monthly payment
Want to figure out how much your monthly mortgage payment will be? For the mathematically inclined, here’s a formula to help you calculate mortgage payments manually:
Equation for mortgage payments
M = P[r(1+r)^n/((1+r)^n)-1)]
- M = the total monthly mortgage payment.
- P = the principal loan amount.
- r = your monthly interest rate. Lenders provide you an annual rate so you’ll need to divide that figure by 12 (the number of months in a year) to get the monthly rate. If your interest rate is 5%, your monthly rate would be 0.004167 (0.05/12=0.004167)
- n = number of payments over the loan’s lifetime. Multiply the number of years in your loan term by 12 (the number of months in a year) to get the number of payments for your loan. For example, a 30-year fixed mortgage would have 360 payments (30×12=360)
This formula can help you crunch the numbers to see how much house you can afford. Using Refimadness.com’s tool to calculate your mortgage payments can take the work out of it for you and help you decide whether you’re putting enough money down or if you need to adjust your loan term. It’s always a good idea to rate-shop with several lenders to ensure you’re getting the best deal available.
How a mortgage calculator can help
Buying a home is often life’s largest financial transaction, and how you finance it shouldn’t be a snap decision. Setting a budget upfront — long before you look at homes — can help you avoid falling in love with a home you can’t afford. That’s where a simple mortgage calculator can help.
A mortgage payment includes four components called PITI: principal, interest, taxes and insurance. Many home buyers know about these costs but what they’re not prepared for are the hidden costs of home ownership. These include homeowners association fees, private mortgage insurance, routine maintenance, larger utility bills and major repairs.
Refimadness.com’s mortgage loan calculator can help you factor in PITI and HOA fees. You also can adjust your loan and down payment amounts, interest rate and loan term to see how much your payments might change. It’s important to know that your specific interest rate will depend on your overall credit profile and debt-to-income, or DTI, ratio (the sum of all of your debts and new mortgage payment divided by your gross monthly income). The riskier the borrower, the higher the interest rate in many cases.
What are the downsides of a 20-year fixed-rate
mortgage?
If you’re choosing between a 30-year mortgage and a 20-year mortgage, the most significant disadvantage to a 20-year is that the monthly payments will be higher. “With a higher payment, you may need to opt for a more modest house than you would with a 30-year term,” Reilling notes.
On the other hand, if you’re deciding between a 10-year or 15-year mortgage and a 20-year mortgage, the drawback of the 20-year is that you’ll pay interest on the loan for either five or 10 more years. However, if you choose a 20-year mortgage with no early repayment penalty (most mortgages don’t have any such penalties), you could choose to pay the mortgage off even faster, either with additional principal payments each month or with a lump sum to close the mortgage out early.
The point is, the choice of paying more is yours each month with a longer-term loan. But if you lock yourself into a 10-, 15- or 20-year mortgage, you must pay the agreed amount each month. There’s no provision to send less money when your budget is tight.
Deciding how much house you can afford
If you’re not sure how much of your income should go toward housing, follow the tried-and-true 28/36 percent rule. Most financial advisers agree that people should spend no more than 28 percent of their gross income on housing (i.e. mortgage payment), and no more than 36 percent of their gross income on total debt, including mortgage payments, credit cards, student loans, medical bills and the like.
Here’s an example of what this looks like:
Joe makes $60,000 a year. That’s a gross monthly income of $5,000 a month.
$5,000 x 0.28 = $1,400 total monthly mortgage payment (PITI)
Joe’s total monthly mortgage payments — including principal, interest, taxes and insurance — shouldn’t exceed $1,400 per month. That’s a maximum loan amount of roughly $253,379.
You can qualify for a mortgage with a DTI ratio of up to 50 percent for some loans, but you might not have enough wiggle room in your budget for other living expenses, retirement and emergency savings, and discretionary spending. Lenders don’t take those budget items into account when they pre-approve you for a loan; it’s up to you to factor those expenses into your housing affordability picture.
Depending on where you live, your annual income could be more than enough to cover a mortgage — or it could fall short. Knowing what you can afford can help you take financially sound next steps. The last thing you want to do is jump into a 30-year home loan that’s too expensive for your budget, even if a lender willing to loan you the money.
Next steps
A mortgage calculator is a springboard to helping you estimate your monthly mortgage payment and understand what it includes. Your next step after playing with the numbers: getting pre-approved by a mortgage lender.
Applying for a mortgage will give you a more definitive idea of how much house you can afford after a lender has vetted your employment, income, credit and finances. You’ll also have a clearer idea of how much money you’ll need to bring to the closing table.
About our Mortgage Rate Tables
The above mortgage loan information is provided to, or obtained by, Redfimadness. Some lenders provide their mortgage loan terms to Refimadness for advertising purposes and Refimadness receives compensation from those advertisers (our “Advertisers”). Other lenders’ terms are gathered by Refimadness through its own research of available mortgage loan terms and that information is displayed in our rate table for applicable criteria. In the above table, an Advertiser listing can be identified and distinguished from other listings because it includes a “Next” button that can be used to click-through to the Advertiser’s own website or a phone number for the Advertiser.
Each Advertiser is responsible for the accuracy and availability of its own advertised terms. Refimadness cannot guaranty the accuracy or availability of any loan term shown above. However, Refimadness attempts to verify the accuracy and availability of the advertised terms through its quality assurance process and requires Advertisers to agree to our Terms and Conditions and to adhere to our Quality Control Program.
Advertisers may have different loan terms on their own website from those advertised through Refimadness.com. To receive the Refimadness.com rate, you must identify yourself to the Advertiser as a Refimadness.com customer. This will typically be done by phone so you should look for the Advertiser’s phone number when you click-through to their website. In addition, credit unions may require membership.
If you are seeking a loan for more than $424,100, lenders in certain locations may be able to provide terms that are different from those shown in the table above. You should confirm your terms with the lender for your requested loan amount.
The loan terms (APR and Payment examples) shown above do not include amounts for taxes or insurance premiums. Your monthly payment amount will be greater if taxes and insurance premiums are included.
If you have used Refimadness.com and have not received the advertised loan terms or otherwise been dissatisfied with your experience with any Advertiser, we want to hear from you. Please Contact Refimadness.com Quality Assurance department to further solve the issue.
Mortgage Calculators: Alternative Use
Most people use a mortgage calculator to
estimate the payment on a new mortgage, but it
can be used for other purposes, too.
Here are some other uses:
Planning to pay off your mortgage early.
Use the “Extra payments” functionality of Refimadness’s mortgage calculator to find out how you can shorten your term and net big savings by paying extra money toward your loan’s principal each month, every year or even just one time.
To calculate the savings, click “Amortization / Payment Schedule” link and enter a hypothetical amount into one of the payment categories (monthly, yearly or one-time) and then click “Apply Extra Payments” to see how much interest you”ll end up paying and your new payoff date.
Decide if an ARM is worth the risk.
The lower initial interest rate of an adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM, can be tempting. But while an ARM may be appropriate for some borrowers, others may find that the lower initial interest rate won’t cut their monthly payments as much as they think.
To get an idea of how much you’ll really save initially, try entering the ARM interest rate into the mortgage calculator, leaving the term as 30 years. Then, compare those payments to the payments you get when you enter the rate for a conventional 30-year fixed mortgage. Doing so may confirm your initial hopes about the benefits of an ARM — or give you a reality check about whether the potential plusses of an ARM really outweigh the risks.
Find out when to get rid of private mortgage insurance.
You can use the mortgage calculator to determine when you”ll have 20 percent equity in your home. This percentage is the magic number for requesting that a lender wave private mortgage insurance requirement.
Simply enter in the original amount of your mortgage and the date you closed, and click “Show Amortization Schedule.” Then, multiply your original mortgage amount by 0.8 and match the result to the closest number on the far-right column of the amortization table to find out when you’ll reach 20 percent equity.
Mortgage Calculator Help
Using an online mortgage calculator can help you quickly and accurately predict your monthly mortgage payment with just a few pieces of information. It can also show you the total amount of interest you”ll pay over the life of your mortgage. To use this calculator, you”ll need the following information:
Home price – The dollar amount you expect to pay for a home.
Down payment – The down payment is money you give to the home’s seller. At least 20% down typically lets you avoid mortgage insurance.
Mortgage Amount – If you’re getting a mortgage to buy a new home, you can find this number by subtracting your down payment from the home’s price. If you’re refinancing, this number will be the outstanding balance on your mortgage.
Mortgage Term (Years) – This is the length of the mortgage you’re considering. For example, if you’re buying new, you may choose a mortgage loan that lasts 30 years. On the other hand, a homeowner who is refinancing may opt of a loan that lasts 15 years.
Interest Rate – Estimate the interest rate on a new mortgage by checking Bankrate’s mortgage rate tables for your area. Once you have a projected rate (your real-life rate may be different depending on your overall credit picture) you can plug it into the calculator.
Mortgage Start Date – Select the month, day and year when your mortgage payments will start.