The full monthly payment on a home: principal, interest, tax, insurance, PMI, and HOA, plus lifetime interest.
Tax Foundation · Census ACS$90,000 down, $360,000 borrowed.
Sets the default rate. Override it below if you have a quote.
Without one we use the Texas average. Counties inside a state can differ by more than a point of value.
Defaults to $35/mo per $100,000 of value.
Early payments are almost all interest: in month one, $2,025 of the $2,335 payment is interest and only $310 reduces the balance. That flips slowly, which is why the two lines above cross late.
A conventional fixed-rate loan. FHA, VA, and USDA loans have different down-payment floors and mortgage insurance; discount points, adjustable rates, and seller credits all move the number. Property tax is a state average from Tax Foundation effective rates, and insurance defaults to 0.42% of value a year. Maintenance, which typically runs 1% of value annually, is not a mortgage cost and is not included here.
This answers one question in isolation. The playbook puts your answers in order and tells you which one to act on first.
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