Good housing decisions start with better math.

Eleven free housing tools and calculators. No account required, no personal data stored.

Calculator
Refinance Calculator
Model whether refinancing makes sense by comparing monthly savings vs. closing cost payback period, total interest paid, and break-even timeline under your assumptions.
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Calculator
Home Swap Calculator
Compare your current home against a prospective one: monthly affordability, post-purchase cash position, and how your buying power shifts over the next decade.
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Calculator
Rent vs. Buy Analysis
Model the full cost of renting versus buying over 5 to 30 years, with amortization-accurate charts, PMI tracking, and equity vs. invested capital comparisons.
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Calculator
Affordability Calculator
Find out how much house your income, debts, and down payment can support: maximum purchase price, full monthly payment breakdown, and DTI analysis.
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Calculator
Down Payment Optimizer
Compare minimum, 20%, and maximum down payment scenarios side by side: monthly cost, PMI duration, opportunity cost, and total wealth at your time horizon.
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Calculator
Compound Growth Calculator
Project long-term savings growth with growing contributions, variable return scenarios, fee drag, inflation adjustment, and a retirement drawdown phase.
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Calculator
Payoff Calculator
See exactly how much interest you save and how many years you cut by making extra monthly or lump-sum principal payments, with a side-by-side amortization view.
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Calculator
Net Proceeds Calculator
Estimate what you'll actually walk away with after selling: agent commissions, closing costs, seller credits, and mortgage payoff all accounted for.
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Tool
Commute Map
Enter up to 4 locations that matter to you — work, school, family — with a max drive or walk time for each, and see the area where you should start your home hunt.
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Tool
Rate Factors
See exactly how credit score, down payment, occupancy, property type, and loan purpose stack up to change the rate a lender quotes — using their own published pricing grid.
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Tool
Closing Timeline
Pick a swap strategy — Buy First, Sell First, or Simultaneous — and see the dated, practical sequence of listing, offers, escrow, and closing.
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From the maker

Why I built this

I originally built an overengineered (and truly ugly, seriously, my wife hated it) Excel spreadsheet to answer one simple question: when could my family realistically move into a larger home? Most existing tools had two major drawbacks: they required personal info like a phone number or email address, subjecting you to relentless marketing, and they largely catered to the rent vs. buy question rather than when to buy again. So I built the Home Swap Calculator, the most distinctive part of this site. Other questions kept coming up along the way, and that's how the rest of the calculators got added. The articles came later: questions I'd had to piece together myself while going through the process, on the assumption that others were probably asking the same things.

Market Context

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Historical data to calibrate your assumptions. Static annual averages from public sources, offering useful context for anyone modeling a housing or investment decision today.

Housing Affordability, 1990–2025
All series indexed to 2000 = 100, so growth rates are directly comparable regardless of unit
Median Home Price
Overlays:
Sources: FRED (MSPUS, HOUST1F), U.S. Census Bureau, BLS CPI-U. Annual averages, 1990–2025. Single-family starts = FRED HOUST1F, thousands of units. 2025 household income is estimated.
Mortgage Rate History, 1990–2025
30 and 15-year fixed, annual averages. Current rates in long-term context.
Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS). Annual averages, 1990–2025. 15-year fixed data begins 1991; 2025 15-yr rate is estimated.

Guides & Explainers

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In-depth articles on the math and tradeoffs behind major housing decisions.

Market · New The Fed Funds Rate vs. Mortgage Rates: Why They Don't Move Together Why mortgage rates often don't follow Fed cuts: they're priced off the 10-year Treasury. → Buying Rent vs. Buy in 2026: A Complete Financial Framework The full financial picture: amortization, opportunity cost, equity growth, and more. → Market The Mortgage Rate Lock-In Effect: Why Millions of Homeowners Won't Sell About 60% of mortgages carry rates below 4%, choking housing supply. → Mortgages How Mortgage Rates Affect Buying Power A 1-point rate move shifts your maximum purchase price by roughly 10%. →