Closing costs are not in the payment
Plan on a few percent of the price at the table on top of your down payment, for the lender, the attorney and the transfer tax. That is cash, not monthly.
Tools
Mortgage calculator.
The three numbers people ask us for first: what a house costs per month, what price your income supports, and what you would walk away with on a sale.
Mortgage calculator
What will it cost per month?
Put in a price, a down payment and a rate. You will see the whole monthly payment, split into the loan, the tax bill, insurance and mortgage insurance if your down payment calls for it. Switch the tab to work backward from your income, or to see what a sale would leave you.
Change any number and the payment updates as you type.
Why talk to us
The payment is the easy part. The tax bill is the surprise.
Property taxes on the Seacoast swing by thousands of dollars from one town to the next, and the rate a calculator assumes is almost never the rate on the house you want. We have closed 1,903 sales across these towns, so we can tell you what the real bill looks like before you write an offer.
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What the calculator misses
Four things it cannot price.
Every number above is an assumption until someone checks it against a specific house. These are the four that move a Seacoast payment the most.
The rate on that town
Portsmouth, Dover and Exeter do not tax at the same rate, and a revaluation can move the bill mid-year. The figure for a specific address is public record, and we will pull it.
What it costs to insure
Near the coast, flood and wind coverage can add more per month than a quarter point of interest. An older roof or a wood stove changes the quote again.
The rate you actually get
The number here is a guess. Your credit, the down payment and whether you pay points decide the real one, and local lenders do not all quote the same day the same way.
What the house needs
A furnace at the end of its life or a septic system due for replacement is a real monthly cost that never shows up in a payment calculator.
Reading the number01 02 03
What this does not include.
Three things to hold in mind before you treat this as your budget.
Upkeep is the line people forget
Roofs, heating systems and paint do not bill monthly, but they arrive. Setting aside about one percent of the value each year keeps them from becoming a crisis.
A quote beats an estimate
Before you shop seriously, get a written pre-approval. It replaces the rate guess above with a real number and tells sellers you can close.
How to use the number.
01
Start with a price you would offer
Pull a few active listings in your range from our search and use a realistic offer, not the top of what a lender would approve.
02
Set the tax rate for the town
The default is a Seacoast average. Move it to the town you are actually looking in and watch how far the payment travels.
03
Check it against a real house
Send it over and an agent will price the same payment on a specific address, with the actual bill and a current lender quote.
Who checks the numbers
A calculator assumes. An agent checks the bill.
Send us the number you landed on and a Red Post agent will run it against a real address: the tax bill the town actually sends, what insurers are quoting near that stretch of coast, and what a local lender will write down today.
If the payment does not work, we will say so before you fall for a house.
Our preferred lender
Get the number in writing.
CMG FinancialAJ Lane
The figure above is an estimate until a lender underwrites it. AJ Lane at CMG Financial is who we send our own clients to: he picks up, quotes straight, and gets pre-approvals done in time to matter when you are competing for a house.
Ask for an IntroductionYou are free to use any lender you like.
Mortgage questions, answered.
What is actually in the monthly payment?
Four things, and sometimes five: the loan principal and interest, the property tax bill spread over twelve months, homeowners insurance, mortgage insurance if you put down less than 20 percent, and condo or association dues if the property has them. Most lenders collect the tax and insurance with your payment and pay those bills for you.
Do I really need 20 percent down?
No. Plenty of Seacoast buyers close with 5 or 10 percent, and some loan programs go lower. Under 20 percent the lender adds mortgage insurance, which this calculator includes, and it comes off once you hold 20 percent equity.
Why is the tax number so important here?
New Hampshire has no income tax and leans on property tax instead, so the bill is a larger share of the payment than buyers moving from Massachusetts expect. Two similar houses in neighboring towns can differ by a few hundred dollars a month on tax alone.
How much house can I actually afford?
The Budget tab works backward from your income using the test most lenders start from: housing at most 28 percent of your income before taxes, and housing plus your other monthly debts at most 36 percent. Treat it as a ceiling rather than a target: the comfortable number is usually below what you qualify for.
What will I clear if I sell?
The Proceeds tab takes your sale price, subtracts what you still owe, the commission and your closing costs. It does not know about repairs you agree to after inspection or a mortgage prepayment penalty, so treat it as a starting point.
Is this a loan offer?
No. Red Post does not lend, and nothing here is an approval or a quote. It is a working estimate to help you decide what to look at. When you are ready, we can point you to local lenders who close on time.