Now that you’ve found your dream home, or at least have an idea of the home prices where you hope to live, you can use a mortgage calculator to help your determine what your monthly mortgage payments will be. If you are getting a fixed mortgage (a.k.a. fixed-rate mortgage or fixed-interest mortgage) you can use a fixed mortgage calculator. If you are getting an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) or balloon mortgage, however, you will need to use different mortgage calculators.
MORTGAGE CALCULATOR: How Much Will My Fixed Rate Mortgage Payment Be?
The mortgage calculator above computes the combined principal and compounded interest payments that you will owe each month on a fixed-rate loan. Remember that a fixed mortgage comes with an interest rate that doesn’t change and typically has a term length of 15 or 30 years. [See related article “Fixed-Rate Mortgage Basics”]
The “How Much Will My Fixed Rate Mortgage Payment Be” mortgage calculator is easy to use and it has four simple parts:
Part 1 ― In the “Home price” section of the mortgage calculator, enter the total price of the house that you’re purchasing.
Part 2 ― In the “Down payment” section of the mortgage calculator, enter your down payment on the home (as a percentage of the home’s sale price or a dollar amount).
Part 3 ― In the “Loan term” section of the mortgage calculator, enter the length of the loan (in years or months).
Part 4 ― In the “Interest rate” section of the mortgage calculator, enter the mortgage rate on the loan (expressed as a percentage).
As an additional option, you may check the box next to “Show payment schedule” and the mortgage calculator will generate a chart of every monthly payment amount you will owe throughout the life of your loan.
FOR EXAMPLE: Let’s say you enter a home price of $350,000 and a down payment of 20% (or $70,000). With a loan term of 30 years and an interest rate of 4.5%, the mortgage calculator will produce the following results:
Home Price — $350,000
Down Payment — $70,000
Total Amount Financed — $280,000
Payment Amount — $1,418.72
Total Payments — $510,738.29
Interest Rate — 4.50%
Interest Compounding — Monthly
Total Finance Charge — $230,738.29
Keep in mind that the mortgage calculator only estimates what your fixed mortgage payments will be. You must also consider other factors, such as mortgage insurance and property taxes, which can increase to your monthly housing expenses.