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A calculated move
Online mortgage calculators bring questions of affordability into sharper focus.
Quick … on a $170,000 30-year mortgage at 7%, how much interest would you save by making an additional $75 payment toward principal each month? That ridiculously difficult question becomes as easy as punching in a few numbers when using mortgage calculators, and you will find several powerful ones online. Anytime you or your clients have Internet access, you are just a few clicks away from answers.
Calculators from FinanCenter help consumers compare loans, figure out what they can afford, whether paying points will pay off, how much they can save in taxes, and how long it will take to recapture the costs of refinancing. These calculators can be found on several major Web sites, including USAToday.com and Kiplinger.com.
On SmartMoney.com, you will find some helpful options, like a calculator that shows factors involved in deciding whether to by a second home. (Go to www.smartmoney.com/home/index.cfm?story=section.) The calculators provided by VisualCalc (www.mortgageselect.com/calcs) display graphs and charts to help visualize the decisions, much like the FinanCenter tools. You can find other options all over the Web, but the selections above cover just about any question a buyer or homeowner would want answered.
Illustration © Digital Vision.
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Buyers & sellers,
visit www.texasrealestate.com.
REALTORS®, visit www.texasrealtors.com.
