When you’re thinking of buying a home or considering how much a mortgage will cost, you can use a house affordability calculator or loan calculator. These tools make your search easier, help you plan for the loan or assist you in setting financial goals for the future.
What Is a House Affordability Calculator?
A house affordability calculator uses simple financial parameters to calculate how much house you can afford or how much a mortgage will cost.
A mortgage calculator is a simple financial tool that instantly gives you the information you need. In addition to mortgage calculators, many other financial calculators help you keep track of your money and plan for the future.
The Parts of a Loan Calculator
When you use a house affordability calculator, it has several parameters you can select, including:
- Location
- General credit status
- Gross annual income
- Monthly debt
- How much down payment you can afford
A loan calculator uses items like:
- Price
- Interest rate
- Money down
- Taxes
- PMI
- Loan type
- Loan duration
Who Should Use a House Affordability Calculator?
Anyone can use a house affordability calculator. You can determine how much the house costs if you are a:
- Agent
- Buyer
- Seller
- House flipper
- Investor
- Looking for a second home
In all these cases, you can learn how much the house costs and what you can afford. Agents, buyers and sellers need to know because this data helps them determine where to search.
You might also use the affordability calculator when you are thinking of buying a house and just want to get an idea of what a mortgage company might approve.
What About a Loan Calculator?
If you’re a house flipper, investor or person in search of a second home, you need to know how much the house costs and how much you think you should charge in rent.
If you’re investing, you want to know the carrying costs on the house.
Additionally, you might want to know how much certain aspects of the home (taxes, insurance) impact your monthly payment.
You may also adjust the loan duration to determine how much it costs to potentially pay off your house faster.
Is a House Affordability or Loan Calculator Perfect?
No, because the title agency handling your closing is the only company that can tell you exactly how much the house costs. It shows you how much the payment is and what the exact closing costs are. Only your mortgage lender can tell you exactly how much house you can afford.
However, the house affordability calculator is a useful reference that you should bookmark on all your electronic devices.
Why Is a House Affordability Calculator Helpful?
A house affordability calculator gives you the details of a home purchase. While the calculator is not perfect, it is good at helping you see how much it actually costs to own a home or how much you need to earn and save before buying a home.
For example, you may have been approved for a $250,000 loan. This approval gives you quite a bit of flexibility, but you might not have considered how much a $250,000 loan costs. You might discover that the payment on a loan of this size is simply too high. Therefore, you can check other lower-priced homes until you find a payment range that you feel is comfortable.
Moreover, you can see how much taxes impact your payments. You can even check how much your insurance payments impact your monthly house note. All these little things work together to give you a bigger picture view of your potential mortgage.
Additionally, you might want to use a mortgage calculator when you want to at what level your mortgage rate impacts your payment. For example, you might wait to build your credit and obtain a lower rate, or you might decide that your current rate is affordable.
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Reviewing How Much House You Can Afford
When you use a house affordability calculator, you can see how much house you can afford, taking into account your financial situation, the home price, insurance, PMIt and taxes. Using a product like this ensures that you know what you’re getting into before you shop for a house or seek a mortgage. Plus, you can get a good idea of the range of homes you can buy. As always, feel free to return to Benzinga for more financial information at any time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much house can I afford on my salary?
When you are considering how much house you can afford on your salary, you can use a house affordability calculator to learn more. Remember, however, that you should also consider how much you can afford and how much you would be comfortable paying.
How much is 3% down on a house?
When you plan to purchase a home, you may be required to make a down payment. Certain loans (USDA loans, for example) don’t require down payments. Most other loans require something between 3% and 10% down. When you calculate how much your down payment should be, take the sale price of the house and multiple by 0.03. That figure tells you how much cash you must produce at closing for the down payment alone (closing costs are separate.)
About Patton Hunnicutt
Patton Hunnicutt is a contributor and editor at Benzinga. He’s worked for several years on financial content, addressing issues related to personal finance, investments, retirement, and more.