Before the pandemic began, I had been working from home as a freelancer and blogger after leaving my position of six years in academia. During that time, I curated a beautiful, yet small office space for the work that I did. It worked out perfectly.
A few months later, as COVID started, I began my new position remotely and my boys began school remotely. What I quickly learned was that our home was not equipped for working from home and homeschooling.
I realized that I needed more than an office space. I needed an actual office so that I could separate out the work that I was doing because each role had different requirements.
For example, in my office space, what was behind me didn’t matter as I blogged or did freelance work. No one was going to see that. However, in my new role, a decent background is appreciated because so much is virtual now. In addition to that the boys required more space for homeschool.
A New Way of Life
Given this new way of life, our lives now required more space. With this in mind, we have been looking for a new home; one that gives us more of the space we need to be successful at home. Because the truth is, we don’t know how long the pandemic will actually last.
As we’ve been considering various locations and houses, there’s one online resource that has been very helpful and that’s calculators on MortgageCalculators.info.
Monthly Mortgage Payment Amount Calculator
There are a lot different calculators to choose from on the site, depending on your needs. For us however, it’s been important for us to use the Monthly Mortgage Payment Amount Calculator because we know what we can afford to spend each month.
By using this calculator, we can continue browsing homes on sites such as Trulia and Zillow and check to see if the price of the home will be a realistic fit for us.
Whether it’s your first home or not, buying a house is an exciting milestone to reach in life. From researching cool neighborhoods and school districts to picking out paint colors and dreaming up your dream kitchen, there’s a lot to look forward to as you go through the homebuying process.
But with all of the exciting moments, there are some less desirable steps to take as well, like, crunching numbers on a mortgage and assessing closing costs. So using this calculator makes sense. It helps in making the decisions and cutting down on some of the work ahead of time.
How Much for The Down Payment?
It’s also helpful because the calculator factors in your down payment. Your down payment is an important part of the homebuying process because it plays into your loan eligibility and takes away from the amount that you’ll owe on your mortgage.
If you are unfamiliar, the recommended down payment on a house is approximately 20%. This amount allows you the option to reject mortgage insurance and it’s a number that experts agree generally works within 15 and 30-year mortgage timelines.
Final Thoughts
So, if you are tired of paying a lot in rent, begin your planning now by using the Monthly Mortgage Payment Amount Calculator. Because the truth is, whether you’re looking to buy a fancy New York apartment or a small Midwest cottage, saving up enough money for a down payment can sometimes take years to do.
That’s why it’s worth it to build your savings ahead of time and use helpful resources such as these even if you don’t plan on buying property in the immediate future.
Check out this post to learn how to reach your financial goals to help you get started!
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