How to Use a Mortgage Calculator

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A mortgage calculator is a valuable tool that can help you make an important decision about your living arrangements. Will you buy? Will you continue to rent? Will you be able to afford to move or do you need to stay where you are at? Is it time to re-finance? A mortgage calculator can help you figure out the answers to all of these questions. The calculator allows you to figure out borrowing at different interest rates over different time periods in order to determine a payment and loan that fits your budget.

What The Calculator Will Provide

You can easily find excellent mortgage calculators for free online if you look around. The numbers you plug into the calculator will provide you with information about an expected monthly payment, interest totals over the length of your loan, insurance for taxes and mortgage, and a loan payoff date as well as the total amount of tax for the entire length of the loan.


Get Started

To get started with the calculator, you will need to enter the price or value of the home. Next you will need to enter the down payment you will expect to put down so that amount can be subtracted from the loan amount. The calculator will probably have an interest rate value in place already. This should be based upon current lending rates, but if you have a different interest rate quoted to you by a lender, change the rate to reflect that.

When you press the "calculate" button, you will be provided with a monthly payment amount based upon the figures you've entered.

Work With the Numbers

One of the great things about a mortgage calculator is that you can play around with the numbers. If the payment is too high, you can plug in a higher down payment or a lower interest rate. The purpose behind the calculator is to help you determine the scenario that best fits your budget.


A mortgage calculator is a great tool for helping you make important decisions about buying a home. 

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