Mortgage calculator - the opposite of what is out there!

[soon_to_blog]

Hi, I am looking for a mortgage calculator that does exactly the opposite of what all the online calculators do.

I want to take a monthly payment, and turn it into a total mortgage loan. As an example, if I can afford to spend $x.xx/month on housing, what is the total loan I would be able to obtain based on a specific interest rate?

Has anyone seen something like this? Any Excel experts out there? If anyone has any info, please let me know!

Thanks,
Josh

[72Tiger]

it seems like it would be real easy to do using the regular way with a little trial and error. Just enter a series of total loan amounts until you zero in on the one that gives you the monthly payment you have determined that is affordable.

If you are looking for a formula based approach, I can dust off my old Engineering Economics book, and get back with you.

You may find one on this site as well. They have financial calculators for about everything:

http://www.dinkytown.com/

This one looks like it does either way:

http://www.dinkytown.com/java/SimpleLoan.html

[soon_to_blog]

Thanks for the dinkytown link. I was looking for something just like that. I know it is basic (no pmi, insurance, or other costs), but it is good for a very rough estimate.

- Josh

[gtwise]

It's quite easy with Excel. There is a Present Value function that does just that. I have attached an excel spreadsheet with a sample usage. You can set the term, interest rate, monthly payment, insurance and property tax (for escrow), down payment percentage and it will tell you the maximum house you can afford.

If you want to know the maximum mortgage without escrow just put $0 into the homeowner's insurance and property tax fields. If you want to know the maximum mortgage you cna afford without the down payment just put 0% into the down payment amount.

I put in 3 sample scenarios too.

[khorrell]

I'm sure that many banks have links to the calculators. I use the one at Navy Federal Credit Union, www.navyfcu.org. It is down on the lower right hand side of the page, click on on-line calculators. I find that the "How Much Can I Borrow" calculator is very helpful, you can do just a straightline income to mortgage calculation or a more accurate liabilities calculation.

[mbhunter]

Try this one:

http://ray.met.fsu.edu/~bret/amortize.html

Enter your payment amount, payments per year and number of regular payments (12 and 360 for a 30-year) a balloon payment of 0, your interest rate in percent, and clear out the loan amount. Hit the calculate button, and that will be the borrowed amount.

[thedark]

Yes, just start entering some values to get a monthly payment in regular mortgage calculators.

I'm using this mortgage payment calculator

It gives amortization details too