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Calculating the size of your mortgage payment, after you know the amount you want to borrow, is simple. The hard part for most people is determining how much they can afford to borrow. If you already know how large a monthly mortgage payment you can afford, terrific! Go to the head of the class. Suppose you work through your budget in Chapter 2 and calculate that you can afford to spend $1,500 per month on housing. Determining the exact amount of mortgage that allows you to stay within this boundary is a little challenging, because the housing cost you figure that you can afford ($1,500, in our example) is made up of several components. Lucky for you, we cover each of these components in this chapter, including mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance. (Note that although lenders don’t care about maintenance expenses in figuring what you can afford to buy, you shouldn’t overlook this significant expense.)

As you change the amount that you’re willing to spend on a home, the size of the mortgage you choose to take out also usually changes, but so do the other property cost components. So you may have to play with the numbers a bit to get them to work out just right. You may pick a certain home and then figure the property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and the like. When you tally everything up, you may find that the total comes in above or below your desired target ($1,500, in our example). Obviously, if you come out a little high, you need to cut back a bit and choose a slightly less-costly property and/or get a smaller mortgage.

Using Table 3-1, you can calculate the size of your mortgage payments based on the amount you want to borrow, the loan’s interest rate, and the length (in years) the mortgage payments last. To determine the monthly payment on a mortgage, simply multiply the relevant number from Table 3-1 by the size of your mortgage expressed in (divided by) thousands of dollars. For example, if you take out a $150,000, 30-year mortgage at 5.50 percent, multiply 150 by 5.68 (from Table 3-1) to arrive at an $852 monthly payment. (You can access Table 3-1 online at www.dummies.com/go/homebuyingkit7e.)

TABLE 3-1 Monthly Mortgage Payment Calculator

Interest Rate	15-Year Mortgage	30-Year Mortgage
3	6.90	4.21
31⁄8	6.96	4.28
3¼	7.02	4.35
33⁄8	7.08	4.42
3½	7.14	4.49
35⁄8	7.21	4.56
3¾	7.27	4.63
37⁄8	7.33	4.70
4	7.40	4.77
41⁄8	7.46	4.85
4¼	7.52	4.92
43⁄8	7.59	4.99
4½	7.65	5.07
45⁄8	7.71	5.14
4¾	7.78	5.22
47⁄8	7.84	5.29
5	7.91	5.37
51⁄8	7.98	5.45
5¼	8.04	5.53
53⁄8	8.11	5.60
5½	8.18	5.68
55⁄8	8.24	5.76
5¾	8.31	5.84
57⁄8	8.38	5.92
6	8.44	6.00
61⁄8	8.51	6.08
6¼	8.58	6.16
63⁄8	8.65	6.24
6½	8.72	6.33
65⁄8	8.78	6.41
6¾	8.85	6.49
67⁄8	8.92	6.57
7	8.99	6.66
71⁄8	9.06	6.74
7¼	9.13	6.83
73⁄8	9.20	6.91
7½	9.28	7.00
75⁄8	9.35	7.08
7¾	9.42	7.17
77⁄8	9.49	7.26
8	9.56	7.34
81⁄8	9.63	7.43
8¼	9.71	7.52
83⁄8	9.78	7.61
8½	9.85	7.69
85⁄8	9.93	7.78
8¾	10.00	7.87
87⁄8	10.07	7.96
9	10.15	8.05
91⁄8	10.22	8.14
9¼	10.30	8.23
93⁄8	10.37	8.32
9½	10.45	8.41
95⁄8	10.52	8.50
9¾	10.60	8.60
97⁄8	10.67	8.69
10	10.75	8.78
101⁄8	10.83	8.87
10¼	10.90	8.97
103⁄8	10.98	9.06
10½	11.06	9.15
105⁄8	11.14	9.25
10¾	11.21	9.34
107⁄8	11.29	9.43
11	11.37	9.53
11¼	11.53	9.72
11½	11.69	9.91
11¾	11.85	10.10
12	12.01	10.29
12¼	12.17	10.48
12½	12.17	10.48

Use this handy-dandy workspace (reproduced throughout this chapter and available online at www.dummies.com/go/homebuyingkit7e) to track your estimated homeownership expenses, starting with the mortgage payment:

Item	Estimated Monthly Expense
Mortgage payment	$
Property taxes	+ $
Insurance	+ $
Improvements, maintenance, and other	+ $
Homeownership expenses (pretax)	= $
Tax savings	– $
Homeownership expenses (after tax benefits)	= $