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C.01 · Housing

What would this house really cost you?

Principal & interest is the headline number. Taxes, insurance, PMI, and HOA are where the real math hides. Move the sliders — we'll show you all of it.

Rate data
Freddie Mac PMMS
Freddie Mac weekly survey, via FRED — refreshed daily.
Jump to a scenario
Inputs
Home price
$425,000
Down payment
20.0%
Interest rateTypical 30-year fixed rate today: 6.48%
6.48%
Loan term
30 yrs
Taxes, insurance, HOA
%/yr
$/yr
$/mo
PMI
$0 — not required at 20%+ down
Monthly payment · everything included
$2,659/mo
Loan amount
$340,000
Down payment
$85,000
Total interest
$432,042
Total paid + down
$857,042
Loan balance over time (what you still owe)
How your remaining loan balance shrinks over 30 years
$0$168K$336KYear 0Year 15Year 30Interest-heavyEquity builds faster
Year-by-year

Year-by-year payoff schedule (amortization)

How each year splits between paying down your loan and paying interest. In early years almost every dollar is interest; the turning point — where more goes to your loan than to interest — is where ownership really starts.

Year
Principal
Interest
Balance
Progress
1
$3,815
$21,920
$336,185
1%
2
$4,069
$21,665
$332,116
2%
3
$4,341
$21,394
$327,775
4%
4
$4,631
$21,104
$323,144
5%
5
$4,940
$20,795
$318,204
6%
6
$5,270
$20,465
$312,934
8%
7
$5,622
$20,113
$307,313
10%
8
$5,997
$19,738
$301,316
11%
9
$6,397
$19,337
$294,918
13%
10
$6,824
$18,910
$288,094
15%
11
$7,280
$18,455
$280,814
17%
12
$7,766
$17,969
$273,048
20%
13
$8,284
$17,450
$264,764
22%
14
$8,837
$16,897
$255,926
25%
15
$9,427
$16,307
$246,499
28%
16
$10,057
$15,678
$236,442
30%
17
$10,728
$15,007
$225,714
34%
18
$11,444
$14,290
$214,270
37%
19
$12,208
$13,526
$202,061
41%
20
$13,023
$12,711
$189,038
44%
21
$13,893
$11,842
$175,145
48%
22
$14,820
$10,914
$160,324
53%
23
$15,810
$9,925
$144,515
57%
24
$16,865
$8,869
$127,649
62%
25
$17,991
$7,744
$109,658
68%
26
$19,192
$6,542
$90,466
73%
27
$20,474
$5,261
$69,992
79%
28
$21,840
$3,894
$48,152
86%
29
$23,298
$2,436
$24,854
93%
30
$24,854
$881
$0
100%
How we compute this

The formula behind the number.

The monthly principal-and-interest payment on a fixed-rate mortgage follows one equation, where P = amount borrowed · r = monthly rate (annual ÷ 12) · n = total monthly payments:

M = P × [ r(1+r)n ] / [ (1+r)n − 1 ]

where P is the loan amount, r is the monthly interest rate (annual ÷ 12), and n is the number of monthly payments. Property tax, insurance, PMI, and HOA are added on top — they don't factor into the amortization, but they're very real when the autopay hits.

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Frequently Asked Questions

A mortgage payment is made up of four parts — principal (paying down the loan balance), interest (the cost of borrowing), property taxes, and homeowner's insurance (sometimes called PITI). If your down payment is less than 20%, you may also pay private mortgage insurance (PMI).