How to Find a Mortgage Calculator Online

If you are thinking of buying a house but don’t know if you can afford it, you are not alone. Millions of Americans take out a home loan each year, many for the first time. The most common question when taking the first steps into home ownership is affordability. You can find out how affordable a home loan (called a mortgage) will be with your computer. Online mortgage calculators can be found on many Web sites, but they are not the same. Some try to lure you into an inflated loan rate or offer to put you into a house you cannot reasonably afford. You can find a reliable mortgage calculator online by following these steps.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Find a Mortgage Calculator

1. Visit the Web site of your bank. Most will feature loan tools, including a mortgage calculator.
2. Point your browser to BankRate’s website (see link below) and click on "Mortgages" in the Calculators section of their home page.
3. Visit the Web site of your investment company, as they might offer a mortgage calculator as well.
4. Ask your real estate agent for a reference of a reliable mortgage calculator.
   

Buy a Mortgage Calculator

5. Use your favorite search engine to find “purchase mortgage calculator.”
6. Read through the tutorial and make sure it’s a calculator you’ll enjoy using.
7. Enter your credit card and billing information.
8. Download the program and install it by double clicking the “Setup.exe” file.
   

Using an Online Mortgage Calculator

9. Enter the requested information. Typical data fields include:
   
   - Loan amount
   - Appraised value
   - Term in years or months
   - Interest rate
   - Yearly property tax
   - Yearly property insurance
   - Possibly your annual income, investment and rental income before taxes
   - Possibly your current debt, including auto and student loans, other miscellaneous loans, monthly alimony and child support debts and revolving credit debts (credit cards)
10. Click the “Results” or “Calculate” button.
11. View the results.

Tips & Warnings

• Banks and credit unions are probably the best place to start your search. They have the money to invest in a dependable software package to provide realistic quotes.
• If you aren’t happy with the results of the first mortgage calculator you try, search for another reliable one. Check out another bank’s Web site, for example.
• Avoid a general search engine search of “mortgage calculator." You’ll end up with such a wide variety of calculators, you won’t know which one to believe.
• Stay away from calculators that do not take into consideration the term of the loan or loan amount. Some “mortgage calculators” are actually calculators that show how much you can afford in a perfect, debt-free world.
• Don’t worry if you don’t have the proper insurance or tax amount for your future real estate. Entering $2500 for the property tax and $500 for the insurance will result in a ballpark figure to help you make your decision.
• Don’t be discouraged if the mortgage calculator results in payments higher than you expected. You might have your eye on real estate that’s out of your league.