Calculators for buyers, owners & landlords
Sixteen focused tools for the biggest purchase most people ever make. Size a mortgage, test affordability, compare renting to buying, and underwrite a rental — all free, instant, and private to your browser.
Buying a home
Mortgage
home loanYour monthly home-loan payment from price, down payment, rate and term — with property tax, insurance and PMI, plus a full amortization schedule.
Open calculatorMortgage Affordability
how much?How much house can you afford? The 28/36 debt-to-income rule turns your income, debts and down payment into a realistic price range.
Open calculatorDown Payment
how much down?How much to put down, and how it changes your loan, payment and PMI — with a side-by-side of levels and how long it takes to save.
Open calculatorClosing Costs
cash to closeEstimate the fees on top of your down payment — lender fees, title, escrow and prepaids — and your total cash to close, with an itemized breakdown.
Open calculatorDebt-to-Income
DTI ratioThe ratio lenders check first — your front-end and back-end DTI from income and debt payments, on a gauge against the lender scale.
Open calculatorRent vs Buy
rent or own?Buying versus renting and investing the difference — net worth on one chart, with the break-even year that decides it.
Open calculatorBuy vs Rent Breakeven
the crossoverFind the year buying beats renting — a cost-crossover chart that factors appreciation, rent growth and the returns a renter earns on the down payment.
Open calculatorOwning & managing the loan
Amortization
payoff scheduleA full month-by-month payoff schedule for any loan — the principal-vs-interest split, payoff date, and how much extra payments save in interest and time.
Open calculatorMortgage Payoff
pay off earlySee how extra monthly payments, a one-time lump sum, or biweekly payments pay off your mortgage years early — and exactly how much interest you'd save.
Open calculatorRefinance
break-evenShould you refinance? Compare your current loan to a new rate and term to see monthly savings, when you break even on closing costs, and lifetime interest saved.
Open calculatorProperty Tax
the countyAnnual and monthly property tax from your home value, assessment ratio, local rate and exemptions — plus your true effective rate.
Open calculatorHome Appreciation
future valueProject your home's future value and total gain from an annual appreciation rate — with an optional inflation adjustment to see it in today's money.
Open calculatorRental investing
Rental Property ROI
investorAnalyze any rental: monthly cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash return and gross yield, plus total profit stacked over your holding period.
Open calculatorCap Rate
NOI ÷ priceThe capitalization rate and net operating income for a rental — the unlevered yardstick investors use to compare income properties regardless of financing.
Open calculatorCash on Cash
levered returnThe annual cash-on-cash return and monthly cash flow on a financed rental — what the cash you actually invested earns once the mortgage is counted.
Open calculatorRental Yield
gross & netGross and net rental yield from the price and rent — with a breakdown of where the rent goes and how the yield shifts if you pay more or less.
Open calculatorWork through it in the right order
A home purchase is a chain of decisions. Here's the sequence most buyers and investors follow, and the tools that answer each step.
Find your ceiling
Before you fall for a listing, learn the number you can actually carry. Start from income and debts, not the asking price.
Size the cash you need
Down payment plus closing costs is the real barrier to entry. Set the down payment level that clears PMI and see the total cash to close.
Price the monthly payment
Turn a price and rate into a payment you'll live with for years — with tax, insurance and PMI included, and the full amortization behind it.
Sanity-check the decision
Is owning even the right move for your timeline? Compare it to renting and investing the difference, and find the break-even year.
Optimise once you own
After closing, the game is interest. Attack the balance with extra payments, or refinance when rates drop enough to beat the costs.
Or buy it to rent
Investing instead of living in it? Underwrite the deal on the metrics that matter — yield, cap rate and the return on cash you put in.
What a home really costs
The mortgage payment is the number everyone quotes, but it's rarely the number that catches people out. A home is a bundle of recurring costs — some fixed, some that creep upward every year — and the difference between an affordable purchase and a stretched one usually hides in the parts that aren't the loan.
Lenders decide what you can borrow using two ratios: your front-end ratio (housing cost against gross income, typically kept under 28%) and your back-end ratio (all debt payments against income, usually under 36%). Clearing those is only the start — the true monthly cost is broader, and worth modelling before you commit.
Principal & interest
The loan itself. Early on almost all of the payment is interest; the crossover to mostly-principal can take a decade on a 30-year term, which is why the amortization schedule matters.
Taxes & insurance
Property tax and homeowners insurance are usually escrowed into the payment. Tax is reassessed as values rise, so this line grows even on a fixed-rate loan.
PMI
Put down less than 20% and you'll pay private mortgage insurance until you build enough equity. It protects the lender, not you — and it's the first thing a bigger down payment removes.
Closing costs
Lender fees, title, escrow and prepaids typically run 2–5% of the price, due in cash at closing on top of the down payment. They're the hidden barrier to entry.
Maintenance
A common rule of thumb sets aside about 1% of the home's value per year for upkeep. It isn't billed monthly, but it's real, and it's the renter's landlord problem that becomes yours.
Opportunity cost
The down payment could have been invested. A fair rent-versus-buy comparison credits the renter with the returns that money would have earned instead.
The metrics that decide a rental
Buying to let is a numbers game. These are the four figures investors lean on, what each one answers, and the tool that computes it.
| Metric | What it answers | Rough benchmark | Tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross yield | Annual rent as a % of price, before any costs | 5–8%+ | Rental Yield |
| Cap rate | Net operating income ÷ price — return ignoring the loan | 4–10% | Cap Rate |
| Cash-on-cash | Annual cash flow ÷ the cash you actually invested | 8%+ | Cash on Cash |
| Total ROI | Cash flow plus appreciation and loan paydown over the hold | varies | Rental ROI |
Benchmarks are broad rules of thumb — the right number depends on your market, financing and risk tolerance. Cap rate compares properties regardless of how they're financed; cash-on-cash tells you what leverage is doing for the specific deal.