Mortgage calculators are helpful when comparing mortgage loan offers. You can specify the total loan amount, term length, interest rate, property taxes, homeowner insurance and private mortgage insurance amount to determine how much your month payment will be. Term length is the duration of the mortgage loan; mortgage terms vary from 1 to 5 years to 15 or 30 years. The interest rate is the percentage your lender is charging you for borrowing the money. Property taxes are paid to your local government and insurance is required by your lender and is often paid by a third party escrow company.

If you are using a graphing mortgage calculator it will graph the amortization table for you. This information is helpful to see how fast the principal balance of the mortgage loan is being paid down and what is being paid to your lender in interest. Many homeowners do not understand that mortgage loans are front loaded with interest at the beginning of the loan; it is often surprising to see how little of your payment is actually going towards paying back the principal loan balance. In the early years nearly all of your monthly mortgage payment goes to interest.

There are a variety of free mortgage calculators available on the Internet. Make sure you are using one that includes taxes and insurance to get an accurate picture of your monthly mortgage payment. When shopping for a mortgage loan it pays to do your homework first. Establishing a monthly budget and utilizing a mortgage calculator will tell you exactly how much mortgage you can afford before you start shopping around. Using a graphing mortgage calculator is smart financial planning.

Louie Latour has twenty years of experience in the mortgage industry as a mortgage broker.

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He is the owner of Mortgages for Dummies, a mortgage help site devoted to saving homeowners money with a free guidebook “Five Things You Need to Know Before Refinancing a Mortgage.” Sign up for your free guide today at: http://www.refiadvisor.com