Calculators

Every honest housing-cost calculator we've built.

Calculator-first, transparent math. Fifteen tools covering buying, renting, owning, and financing — all running locally in your browser, all with the formulas exposed.

15 live tools No login required Math always visible
Signature tool

Listing Reality Check.

The OwningCost original. Most online listings leave out 30–40% of the true monthly cost — post-purchase tax reset, current-market insurance, the maintenance reserve, the HOA pass-through. Paste any listing or enter a price and see what you'd actually be paying.

The same calculator-first principle as the rest of the site, applied to the moment that matters most: the listing you're about to make an offer on. Every default is honest, every input is editable, every line of the math is visible. No login. No data capture. Math runs in your browser.

Open Listing Reality Check   See the methodology

All calculators

Every tool on the site.

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True Monthly Cost

PITI plus HOA, PMI, and a maintenance reserve — the complete monthly figure for any specific home, with every line item exposed and adjustable.

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Rent vs Buy

Compare total cost over your real time horizon. Includes appreciation, opportunity cost on your down payment, closing costs, and selling costs. Returns a break-even year.

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Affordability + House Poor Risk

Three honest price tiers — Conservative, Comfortable, Stretch — plus a diagnostic risk score that surfaces what would break first if anything changed.

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FHA vs Conventional

Side-by-side over your real hold period. Includes upfront FHA MIP, monthly MIP duration, and Conventional PMI removal at 78% LTV.

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Payment Shock

See how your housing budget changes when rates move, your ARM resets, or your insurance jumps. Stress-test your monthly payment.

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House Poor Risk Score

A standalone version of the risk score — quick read on reserves, rate exposure, hidden cost share, and stress DTI.

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Buy Now vs Wait

Run the same home now vs 12 months from now under your assumptions for prices, rates, and rent inflation. See which path costs less.

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Stay vs Sell Break-Even

If you sold within three years, it would often cost more than staying. The break-even calculator shows exactly when selling pays off.

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Down Payment Strategy

5%, 10%, 15%, 20% — see what each level does to your monthly cost, PMI duration, and total interest paid over your hold period.

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ARM vs Fixed

Model a 5/1, 7/1, or 10/1 ARM against a 30-year fixed. Compare monthly cost during the fixed period and worst-case after the reset.

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VA vs Conventional

If you qualify for VA, see what the funding fee, no-PMI structure, and zero down requirement actually buy you over your hold period.

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PMI Calculator

Enter loan, down payment, and credit. Get a PMI estimate, the month it drops off based on amortization, and the total cost over the loan.

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Closing Cost Estimator

Title, escrow, appraisal, lender fees, prepaid taxes and insurance — get a realistic closing-cost figure for your purchase.

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Cash to Close

Down payment plus closing costs minus seller credits. The exact number you'll need to wire on closing day.

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How these are different

Calculators that don't sell you something.

Most online mortgage calculators belong to a lender, a real-estate brokerage, or a lead-generation network. The number they show you is calibrated to make a home feel reachable so you'll fill out a contact form.

OwningCost calculators don't capture leads. They run in your browser. The full math is visible under every output — formulas, default rates, and the exact set of assumptions used. You can change every assumption and see what happens.

What "complete monthly cost" actually means

The mortgage payment most calculators show you covers principal and interest, sometimes property tax, sometimes a token insurance number. That's typically 60–70% of what a homeowner actually pays each month. The rest — HOA, PMI when applicable, maintenance reserve, and post-purchase tax reassessment — is real money that you'll spend whether the calculator shows it or not.

Every tool here surfaces every line item. Adjust them, hide them, or zero them out. The point is to see the real number.

Start here

New to OwningCost? Run the True Monthly Cost calculator.

It's the foundation tool — everything else builds on it. Five inputs, the complete monthly figure, every assumption visible.