Mortgage & Home Calculators

A principal-and-interest payment does not include property tax, homeowners insurance, or any required mortgage insurance, so it can materially understate total monthly housing cost. These tools model full PITI, use state-specific starting assumptions, show amortization over the selected term, and account for private mortgage insurance when applicable. Under the Homeowners Protection Act, a borrower may generally request PMI cancellation at 80% of the home's original value if the statutory conditions are met, while automatic termination generally occurs at 78% for a current loan. The supporting pages compare points, 15- versus 30-year terms, refinancing, and state-level cost assumptions; users should replace defaults with quotes and local figures for a property-specific estimate.

PMI: the 78% vs 80% LTV distinction lenders gloss over

Private Mortgage Insurance is required on conventional loans with less than 20% down - that part is well-known. What gets missed: under the federal Homeowners Protection Act, lenders are legally required to automatically cancel PMI when the original loan-to-value ratio reaches 78% based on the original amortization schedule, not the current appraised value. You can also request cancellation at 80% LTV, but that requires a borrower-initiated request, a clean payment history (no 30-day lates in the past 12 months, no 60-day lates in the past 24), and often a fresh appraisal at your cost. On a $387,500 home with 10% down ($348,750 loan), automatic cancellation hits when the balance drops to about $302,250 - which on a 30-year fixed at 6.75% happens roughly 10.5 years in. If your home appreciates faster than the amortization, an 80% LTV request based on current value gets you there sooner, but the lender controls the appraisal process and may charge $400-$600 for it. The cost of PMI typically runs 0.3% to 1.5% of the loan annually, so on a $348,750 loan that's $1,050-$5,200 per year. Knowing the exact removal threshold and the request process is the difference between getting your PMI off in year 7 versus year 11.

Discount points: when buying down the rate actually pays

One discount point equals 1% of the loan amount; the rate reduction is whatever the lender's written quote specifies. In an illustrative quote where one point moves a $348,750 loan from 6.75% to 6.50%, the point costs $3,487.50 and saves roughly $58 per month, so the simple breakeven is about 60 months. The savings stop when the loan is sold, refinanced, or paid off, so compare the breakeven period with how long you expect to keep this exact loan, not merely the property. Also compare the point with keeping that cash available for closing costs or reserves. Tax treatment depends on the transaction and your eligibility to itemize; confirm it with IRS guidance or a tax professional rather than counting a deduction in the breakeven by default.

Property tax variation across 50 states - the number nobody quotes

The advertised mortgage rate is the same coast to coast. The property tax that gets escrowed alongside the payment is anything but. New Jersey averages 2.13% of assessed value annually; Hawaii sits at 0.28%. On the same $500,000 home, that's $10,650 per year versus $1,400 - a 7.6× spread that changes total monthly housing cost by $770. Within a state, the variation gets wider. Texas has no state income tax but pulls its share through property tax averaging 1.60%, with major metros running 2.2-2.7%. California's Prop 13 caps annual increases at 2% over the property's original assessed value, which means a homeowner who bought in 1990 may pay one-fifth what their next-door neighbor pays. The state pages in this section pre-fill the statewide average; for a precise estimate you'll want your county assessor's effective rate, which factors special assessments, mello-roos in California, and school-district levies. The state tax comparison tool plots all 50 states on a property-tax vs income-tax scatter plot, sized by total monthly housing cost.

15 vs 30 year: the rate spread that's not actually saving you money

A 15-year fixed typically prices 0.50 to 0.75 percentage points below a 30-year. On a $348,750 loan, that's the difference between $2,262 per month at 6.75% (30-year) and $2,891 at 6.0% (15-year): a higher monthly payment but $193,000 less total interest paid over the life of the loan. The intuitive read is "15-year wins." The honest financial-engineering read is more nuanced. The $629 monthly difference, committed to the 15-year, is opportunity cost: if invested in an S&P 500 index fund at a long-run 7% real return over 30 years, that stream becomes roughly $760,000. The 15-year buyer paid off the house in 15 years, then had 15 years of zero mortgage payment to invest the freed-up $2,891 monthly, which compounds to about $890,000. The 30-year buyer who invested the difference all along ends up with the larger total. The math flips back the other way when you adjust for required risk capacity, behavioral consistency (will you actually invest the difference?), and the certainty premium of a paid-off house. The 15-year is the safer answer; the 30-year with the spread invested is the optimal one if the assumptions hold.

Jumbo loans and the 2026 conforming limit

For 2026, FHFA's one-unit conforming-loan baseline is $832,750 in most U.S. counties. Designated high-cost counties can use higher limits, up to the ordinary ceiling of $1,249,125; special statutory areas use separate rules. A loan above the applicable local limit is jumbo. Jumbo pricing and underwriting vary by lender and borrower profile, often with different credit, down-payment, reserve, and documentation requirements. If you are shopping near the line, verify the property's county limit in FHFA's table before comparing loan structures.