2 guides
Home Buying
The decisions that surround the loan rather than the house: what mortgage insurance genuinely costs and when it falls away, and how the two ratios lenders underwrite on convert your existing monthly debts directly into borrowing capacity. Both are worked backwards from the approval arithmetic.
June 20, 2026 · 8 min read
Waiting to Save 20% Costs More Than the PMI You Are Avoiding
Private mortgage insurance on a 5% down payment runs $190 a month and stops after about ten and a half years. Here is what it actually costs in total, when it falls away, and why the advice to wait for 20% is frequently wrong.
June 5, 2026 · 7 min readYour $780 of Monthly Debt Costs You $120,000 of Mortgage
Lenders approve mortgages on two ratios, and existing monthly debts come straight off the top. Working the arithmetic backwards shows exactly how much borrowing capacity each recurring payment consumes.
Calculators for home buying
Down Payment CalculatorWork out the cash needed at common down-payment levels 3.5%, 5%, 10%, and 20% and the loan amount each one leaves.Mortgage CalculatorEstimate your full monthly mortgage payment principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and HOA plus total interest over the life of the loan.FHA Loan CalculatorEstimate an FHA mortgage payment including upfront and annual mortgage insurance premiums (MIP).Debt-to-Income Ratio CalculatorCalculate your front-end and back-end debt-to-income ratios the numbers lenders use to approve loans.House Affordability CalculatorEstimate the home price you can afford from your income, existing debts, and down payment, using the standard 28/36 lending rule.