| If you are trying to decide how large a mortgage you | | | | house sold. |
| can get, or even whether to buy a home at all, | | | | To Refinance or Not to Refinance? |
| mortgage calculators can help you. You can find them | | | | If you currently own your own home, you may wonder |
| on the Internet for free. Below are descriptions of | | | | whether or not it would be beneficial to refinance. |
| different calculators you might find. | | | | There is a calculator for this too. One of the factors to |
| What Can You Afford | | | | include when considering whether to refinance or buy |
| It's a good idea to know approximately how much | | | | is how soon you'll sell your home. For example, if you |
| money you can borrow for a home before you spend | | | | plan to sell your home in five years, you might end up |
| time looking for a new house. An affordability | | | | saving $1,500. However, if you were to sell it in ten |
| calculator will use information about a loan (such as | | | | years, your savings could be $4,000, while if it sold in |
| interest rate and the length of the loan), the cost of | | | | 25 years, you would lose $7,500. |
| taxes and insurance for the property, your debts (auto | | | | Loan Comparison |
| loans, credit card debt, etc), and your income to | | | | Mortgage lenders offer a variety of loan products that |
| calculate the maximum mortgage you might obtain. | | | | you can choose from, but how do you know which |
| Monthly Payment | | | | one is best? A loan comparison calculator allows you |
| Your monthly mortgage payment is composed of | | | | to enter in key values such as the interest rates, points, |
| more than just principal and interest. It also includes | | | | and closing costs. The calculator will then show multiple |
| taxes and insurance. When figuring out whether you | | | | elements of comparison. Key among these are the |
| can afford a loan, you should look at the entire monthly | | | | monthly payments and the total savings over the life |
| payment, not just the cost of the home or how much | | | | of the loan. Such a calculator can help you know |
| total you'll pay over the life of the loan. A payment | | | | which loan to choose. Be careful though, because |
| calculator helps you do this. | | | | different loans can have different amounts of |
| Keep Renting or Buy a Home? | | | | mortgage insurance associated with them, and the |
| Another great tool allows you to see how much | | | | calculator might not take that into account. |
| money you'll lose or save by renting, and how large a | | | | Bi-Weekly Payments |
| benefit buying a home might be. You'll be able to | | | | Would you like to know the benefits of paying your |
| change the number of years used in the calculation. So | | | | mortgage every two weeks instead of once a |
| for example, if you were planning to buy a home and | | | | month? Using the right calculator can help you decide if |
| then sell it in five years, and you wanted to know if | | | | it's worth it. You'll see how much sooner the mortgage |
| that was better than renting for the next five years, | | | | will be paid off and how much interest can be saved. |
| you'd put a "5" into the appropriate field in the form. In | | | | When you pay off your loan quicker, you could lose |
| this case you might see that you'd save $80,000 in | | | | some tax savings. The best calculators will take this |
| monthly payments if you rent, but that you'd make that | | | | into account and show you a "net savings". |
| up and earn an additional $5,000 when you sold your | | | | Using some or all of these mortgage calculators can |
| house. So if you were able to pay the larger mortgage | | | | help you make a better decision regarding buying or |
| payments now, you'd end up better off after your | | | | refinancing a home. |