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Educational resources to help you make smarter mortgage decisions.

Most of your early payments go to interest, not principal. Here's why — and what you can do about it.

The old "2% rule" is outdated. Here's a framework for thinking about refinancing that accounts for closing costs, time horizon, and opportunity cost.

Private mortgage insurance protects the lender, not you — but you pay for it. Here's how it works and when it goes away.

Even small extra payments can save tens of thousands in interest. Here's why the math works so strongly in your favor.

ARMs get a bad reputation from the 2008 crisis, but in the right situation they can save you real money. Here's an honest look.

A practical guide to the numbers behind your first home purchase — down payment, closing costs, DTI ratios, and what lenders actually look at.

Prefer to work through your own numbers?

These walkthroughs preload the modeler for a specific situation, with the concepts explained alongside the calculation.

Compare keeping your loan, refinancing, and taking cash out, with break-even analysis on closing costs.

See how 3.5% down with FHA, then 5%, 10%, and 20% conventional, changes your payment, mortgage insurance, and total interest.

Compare $0, $200, and $500 a month on the same loan and see the interest avoided and years removed.

Find the month your balance hits 80% of the original price, and how much sooner extra payments get you there.

Put the same $25,000 in all at once or spread over five years, and see what the timing alone is worth.

What the extra 10% actually buys in payment, PMI, and lifetime interest — and what paying it in later does instead.

Keep your loan, refinance, or refinance and keep paying the old payment. A lower rate is not automatically cheaper.