User Guide
- Enter the home price and your down payment — type either the dollar amount or the percentage and the other updates automatically.
- Pick your loan term (10–30 years) and the interest rate your lender quoted.
- Fill in the optional fields — annual property tax, home insurance, PMI rate and monthly HOA fees — for a true total monthly payment.
- Read your payment breakdown, total interest and payoff date, then scroll the amortization schedule and try an extra monthly payment to see the savings.
About the Mortgage Calculator
This free mortgage calculator estimates your real monthly house payment — not just principal and interest, but the full PITI picture: Principal, Interest, property Taxes and Insurance, plus PMI and HOA fees where they apply. That matters, because the payment a bank advert quotes and the amount that actually leaves your account each month routinely differ by $500 or more.
A worked example
Take a $350,000 home with 20% down ($70,000), leaving a $280,000 loan over 30 years at 6.75% APR. Principal & interest come to about $1,816/month — but add $4,200/year of property tax ($350/month) and $1,800/year of insurance ($150/month) and the true payment is roughly $2,316/month. Over the full 30 years you would pay about $374,000 in interest — more than the loan itself. Seeing that number is usually the moment extra payments start to look attractive.
PMI — and exactly when it disappears
Put down less than 20% and lenders add private mortgage insurance, typically 0.3–1.5% of the loan per year. This calculator doesn’t just add PMI to your payment — it tracks your balance month by month and shows the date PMI is removed, when your balance amortizes down to 80% of the home’s value. On a $350,000 home with 10% down at a 0.6% PMI rate, that’s about $158/month until removal — money worth planning around.
The extra-payment lever
Add an optional extra monthly payment and the calculator recomputes everything against the baseline. On the $280,000 loan above, an extra $200/month saves roughly $107,000 in interest and pays the house off about 7½ years early. The amortization schedule (yearly or monthly view) shows why: in the early years most of each payment is interest, so every extra dollar goes straight at the principal that generates it.
30-year vs 15-year — use the term selector
Switch the same loan to 15 years and the payment rises to about $2,478 P&I, but lifetime interest collapses from ~$374,000 to ~$166,000. Running both terms side by side is the fastest way to answer the classic “can I afford the 15-year?” question with real numbers instead of instinct.
Good to know
Figures are estimates for planning — your lender’s official Loan Estimate governs actual costs, and property taxes and insurance premiums change over time. The calculator assumes a fixed-rate loan. For loans that aren’t mortgages, use the Loan Calculator; if you’re comparing Indian home-loan offers quoted as EMI, the EMI Calculator speaks that format natively. Also handy: the Compound Interest Calculator for the “invest the difference” side of the 15-vs-30 debate. Everything runs in your browser — nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is a monthly mortgage payment calculated?
The principal-and-interest part uses the standard amortization formula M = P·r·(1+r)ⁿ / ((1+r)ⁿ−1), where P is the loan amount, r the monthly rate and n the number of payments. The calculator then adds monthly shares of property tax, home insurance, PMI and HOA fees for your true total payment.
What is PMI and when does it go away?
Private mortgage insurance is charged when your down payment is under 20% — typically 0.3–1.5% of the loan per year. It’s removed once your balance reaches 80% of the home’s value; this calculator shows the estimated month that happens.
How much house can I afford?
A common guideline is keeping the full housing payment (including taxes and insurance) under 28% of gross monthly income. Work backwards: enter prices until the calculator’s total monthly payment sits below that line for your income.
Do extra payments really make a difference?
Yes — on a $280,000 30-year loan at 6.75%, an extra $200/month saves roughly $107,000 in interest and pays the loan off about 7½ years early. Enter any extra amount and the calculator shows your exact savings.
Should I choose a 15-year or 30-year mortgage?
A 15-year term costs more per month but slashes lifetime interest — on $280,000 at the same rate, roughly $166,000 versus $374,000. Run both terms in the calculator and compare the payment you can sustain against the interest saved.