Calculator Lab
← All calculators and what each one does
DC recordation and transfer taxes
What you will actually pay in DC government taxes at closing, and whether you qualify for DC's first-time buyer discount. DC charges 1.1% below $400,000 and 1.45% at or above. First-time DC buyers can cut their side to 0.725% on homes up to $777,000, but only if household income is under DC's limit for your household size.
Why this one is different: it runs the actual eligibility test, income limits and all, and tells you exactly why you do or do not qualify. Most calculators do not even know the discount exists. On a $600,000 condo the discount is worth $4,350.
VA IRRRL streamline refinance
If you have a VA loan and rates have dropped, this tells you whether a streamline refinance makes sense. You do not need your statement. Enter what you borrowed, your rate, and your first payment date, and it rebuilds your current balance and payment from the amortization schedule.
It then runs the VA's own legal tests. The VA requires your rate to drop at least half a percent and requires your closing costs to pay for themselves through savings within 36 months. Your lender has to certify that. This shows you the same math, pass or fail, before anyone asks for your business.
Why this one is different: it shows the federal rules that protect you, tells you the exact date you become eligible, and then shows two honest futures. Keep making your old payment and pay the loan off years early, or bank the savings. It also totals what the refinance actually costs after the escrow refund and the skipped payment, a number lenders massage and almost never print. Three charts track your wealth for 30 years: home value against loan balance with your equity shaded, the invested savings, and total wealth. Disabled veterans pay no funding fee at all, and the calculator knows it.
Points break-even
Points are interest you pay up front. You hand the lender extra cash at closing and they give you a lower rate for the life of the loan. Whether that trade wins comes down to one question: will you keep this loan long enough for the smaller payment to pay you back?
Most calculators divide the cost of the points by your monthly savings and call that your answer. It misses money that belongs to you. At the lower rate, more of every payment goes toward what you owe, so whenever you sell or refinance you walk away with more equity. Count that too, and the points pay for themselves sooner than the simple math says.
Why this one is different: it shows both answers, counts the equity, and turns the whole thing into one picture. Set the slider to how long you realistically expect to keep this loan and it tells you, in dollars, whether you leave ahead or behind. The tax and investment fields are optional. Deducting the points pulls your break-even earlier; investing the cash instead of spending it on points pushes it later.
Temporary buydown
A 2-1 buydown gives you a payment 2% lower in year one and 1% lower in year two. Here is what most presentations skip: it is not a lower rate. It is a fund, usually paid by the seller or builder, that sits in escrow and covers the difference each month. Total cost always equals total savings, to the penny. You qualify at the full note rate, and your payment steps up each year.
Why this one is different: it says all of that out loud, shows the exact step-up schedule, and answers the question nobody else does. If you refinance before the fund runs out, the unused balance is typically credited to your payoff. Type a month and see what that credit would be.
Recast vs prepay vs do nothing
You have a lump of cash, maybe from selling your last home, and you want it working against your mortgage. There are two ways to apply it and people mix them up constantly. Prepaying keeps your payment the same and shortens the loan. A recast re-spreads the smaller balance over your remaining term, so your payment drops but the payoff date does not move.
Why this one is different: it shows all three choices in one table, and it is honest about the surprise. Prepaying without recasting saves more total interest than recasting. The right answer depends on whether you need monthly breathing room or the fastest payoff, and now you can see the price of each.
Amortization and extra principal
Where every payment actually goes, year by year, and what happens if you add even a little extra principal each month. Early in a mortgage most of your payment is interest. Extra principal attacks the balance directly, and the effect compounds for the rest of the loan.
Why this one is different: it shows the real year-by-year table and puts a hard number on the habit. On a $300,000 loan at 6%, an extra $200 a month saves about $91,000 in interest and pays the loan off six years and nine months early. Change the numbers and see yours.
MI removal timeline
If you put less than 20% down on a conventional loan, you pay mortgage insurance. Federal law gives you two exits based on your original purchase price. You can request cancellation when your balance reaches 80% of it, and it must terminate automatically at 78%. There is a third exit most people never use: if your home has appreciated, you can get there years sooner with an appraisal.
Why this one is different: it gives you the actual month for each exit, including appreciation scenarios that respect the waiting-period rules servicers actually enforce, so no fantasy dates. And it prices the difference. Requesting at 80% instead of waiting for automatic termination is often thousands of dollars. Put a reminder in your calendar.
Mortgage tax savings
The mortgage interest deduction is the most oversold number in home buying. About 9 in 10 taxpayers take the standard deduction and get no extra tax benefit from their mortgage at all. Whether you are the exception comes down to one comparison: your itemized deductions against the standard deduction, run on your federal return and your state return together.
This tool runs both returns with the 2026 rules for Maryland, Virginia, and DC, including the linkage most calculators ignore. Virginia and DC force your state election to follow your federal one, even when that costs you money at the state level. Maryland allows a split: itemize federally, keep the Maryland standard deduction. The tool evaluates every combination the law allows and reports the best one.
Why this one is different: it tells you $0 when $0 is the truth, and it shows its work. Federal and state pieces reported separately, every limitation that trimmed your deduction named with the dollars it cost you, and a chart of where the savings appear and disappear across income levels.
How the math works
Year-one interest comes from the actual amortization schedule for your loan, not a rate-times-balance shortcut. The federal side applies the 2026 standard deduction, the SALT cap with its high-income phase-down, the acquisition-debt limit on mortgage interest, the mortgage insurance phase-out, and the top-bracket trim on itemized deductions. The state side runs Maryland (state plus county tax, the high-income reduction, and the income-tax addback), Virginia (its Pease limitation), or DC (its high-income phase-out), and respects each state's election linkage to the federal return.
State income tax feeding the federal SALT deduction is estimated the way withholding would see it: the state's tax on your income minus its standard deduction. Savings equal the drop in combined federal plus state tax between taking the standard deduction everywhere and the best itemizing combination the law allows. When itemizing loses, the honest answer is zero and the tool says so.
Every rate, cap, and threshold in this tool is a dated record verified against the primary source: IRS guidance, the Maryland Comptroller, Virginia Tax, and DC OTR. When a 2026 figure is still pending final publication, the tool flags it above instead of pretending.
Educational estimate, not tax advice and not an offer of credit. Your return has details this model does not see. Talk to a tax professional before acting on these numbers. Nathan Burch NMLS 231804 · Vellum Mortgage, Inc. NMLS 1657323.
VA loan limits and remaining entitlement
Whether a VA loan limit applies to you at all, and if one does, how large a loan closes with zero down and what a higher price costs in cash. It all hangs on one word: entitlement. Your Certificate of Eligibility shows a basic entitlement of $36,000, and above it sits bonus entitlement tied to your county's conforming loan limit. "Used" entitlement is the share the VA is still guaranteeing on a loan you have not paid off yet.
Since 2020 the rule splits cleanly in two. Full entitlement, meaning you never used the benefit or you restored it, carries no loan limit at all. Partial entitlement, meaning a prior VA loan is still charged against you, caps your guaranty at 25% of the county limit minus what is already used.
Why this one is different: it refuses to pretend the DMV is one number. Calvert County carries its own $1,209,750 limit, and Anne Arundel, Howard, and both Baltimores sit at the $832,750 national baseline while the DC metro rides the $1,249,125 ceiling. It also tells you when the famous 25% rule is lender convention rather than law.
Full entitlement means you never used your VA benefit, or you got it back. Entitlement is restored when you sell the home and the VA loan is paid off, and once in your life you can restore it after paying off the loan while keeping the home. If a VA loan is still open, or a foreclosure or short sale left the VA holding a loss you have not repaid, uncheck the box and enter the used figure printed on your Certificate of Eligibility.
How the math works
With full entitlement there is no VA loan limit. The VA guarantees 25% of whatever loan your lender approves, and the ceiling on your buying power is underwriting: your income, your credit, and the appraisal. With partial entitlement the tool takes 25% of your county's one-unit conforming limit, subtracts the entitlement already charged on your COE, and calls what is left your remaining entitlement. Most lenders will close with zero down while the loan stays at or below four times that figure. Past it, they want your remaining guaranty plus your down payment to reach 25% of the loan. That coverage floor is a lender convention reported by VA.gov, not a statute, so a specific lender can differ.
The required-down figure treats the loan as the full purchase price. A real down payment shrinks the loan it has to cover, so this estimate runs slightly high, which is the direction an estimate should err. Every limit and rule behind this tool is a dated record verified against the primary source: the FHFA 2026 county limit list, 38 U.S.C. § 3703, and VA.gov.
Educational estimate, not an offer of credit and not a determination of eligibility. Your Certificate of Eligibility and your lender's underwriting control the real answer. Nathan Burch NMLS 231804 · Vellum Mortgage, Inc. NMLS 1657323.
Home sale net proceeds
What you actually walk away with when you sell: sale price minus the commission, seller-side transfer taxes, settlement fees, your mortgage payoff, and any credit you give the buyer, walked down step by step from gross to net. The tax lines come from the same audited Maryland, Virginia, and DC engines the buyer calculators use, so the seller side of this suite can never disagree with the buyer side.
No payoff statement handy? Enter your original loan terms and the tool rebuilds your scheduled balance from the amortization schedule. The settlement payoff will run slightly higher than that: it adds per-diem interest through the payoff date and any release fees, and the tool says so rather than hiding it.
Why this one is different: where a settlement fee has no honest figure yet, the line says amount pending instead of showing a guess, and the tool tells you plainly which direction that pushes each number. It also knows Virginia's regional deed fees. The nine Northern Virginia localities pay 0.30% of the price in seller-side deed taxes, Hampton Roads member cities pay 0.16%, and the rest of the state pays 0.10%, each line with its statute on it.
How the math works
The estimate is a gross-to-net walk. Commission comes off first, as a percent of price. The taxes and government group is computed by the same jurisdiction engines that price the buyer side: Maryland splits its transfer and recordation taxes evenly by custom, and a sale to a first-time Maryland buyer cuts the state transfer tax to 0.25% and puts it entirely on the seller; DC's transfer tax is the seller's by custom; Virginia's grantor tax and regional deed fees are the seller's by statute. Settlement fees are listed but not priced yet, on purpose. Then the mortgage payoff, any other liens, and any credit to the buyer come off, and what is left is the net.
Lines with no defensible amount say amount pending and stay out of every subtotal. That cuts two ways, and the tool words each direction correctly: a cost group with pending lines shows the known costs so far, so the real deduction is higher; the net at the bottom is missing those same deductions, so it overstates what you walk away with until the amounts land. Property tax prorations, HOA payoff or resale-package charges, home warranties, and negotiated repairs are settlement-statement items this estimate does not model, and Maryland withholds state income tax at settlement from sellers who are not Maryland residents.
Educational estimate, not an offer of credit and not a settlement statement. Your listing agreement, contract, and payoff letter control the real figures. Nathan Burch NMLS 231804 · Vellum Mortgage, Inc. NMLS 1657323.
VA assumption blended rate
Assuming a VA loan sounds like the deal of the decade: take over the seller's 2.75% note instead of borrowing at today's rates. The catch is age. The assumable loans are old loans now, mostly 2020 and 2021 vintage, and their balances have been paying down for years while prices kept climbing. So the balance you assume sits far below the price you pay, and you bridge that gap with cash pulled out of investments, a second mortgage, or both. On a $650,000 home with a $380,000 balance, the loan covers less than 60% of the price; the bridge covers the rest, and the bridge has its own price.
This tool prices the whole package. It computes the blended rate across the assumed loan and the second, stacks both payments against a fresh market-rate loan on the same home, counts the growth your cash would have earned had it stayed invested, and names the month the low rate finally pays for the bridge, if that month ever comes.
Why this one is different: it never assumes the assumption wins. When the blend lands at or above today's market rate, it says so before showing you a single chart. It also knows the fine print most people learn at the closing table: the 0.5% assumption funding fee is charged on the balance rather than the price, the servicer's processing charge is capped by federal regulation, and a non-veteran buyer leaves the seller's VA entitlement tied to the loan until it is paid off.
The three assumed-loan figures come from the seller: balance, note rate, and remaining term are all on the seller's most recent mortgage statement. If the statement shows a maturity date instead of a term, count the months from now to that date. The exact payoff-level balance is set at closing. Whatever the gap needs beyond your cash becomes the second mortgage; its rate has no default here because an invented rate would decide the whole comparison, so it waits for a real quote.
How the math works
The blended rate is the balance-weighted average: the assumed balance times its rate, plus the second mortgage times its rate, divided by the total financed. The payment stack is the assumed P&I plus the second's P&I, compared against the market loan's P&I; all payment, interest, and break-even comparisons cover principal and interest only, on both sides, with the fee ledger and closing costs excluded from both. Opportunity cost prices the cash honestly: whichever path leaves more cash uncommitted invests the difference at the return you chose, and only the growth counts, because the principal a path spends sits in the house as equity and the wealth charts count it there.
The break-even definition is printed next to the number, straight from the engine, and it admits an uncomfortable case: because invested growth compounds while payment savings accrue flat, a path can break even and later fall behind again. The wealth charts use the same home value on both paths, grown at the appreciation default for your county: the minimum of the trailing 1-year, 5-year, and 10-year FHFA figures, floored at zero, which is deliberately the least flattering of the three. Your override replaces it. FHFA's sample excludes condos and co-ops, so a condo may appreciate more slowly than the figure shown.
Every fee, cap, and entitlement rule behind this tool is a dated record verified against the primary source: 38 U.S.C. §§ 3702, 3714, and 3729, 38 CFR 36.4313, and the FHFA house price index files.
Educational estimate, not an offer of credit and not loan approval. The servicer controls the real assumption timeline and terms, and second-lien pricing comes from a live quote. Nathan Burch NMLS 231804 · Vellum Mortgage, Inc. NMLS 1657323.
Maryland Mortgage Program comparison
Maryland's state mortgage program posts its rates publicly every day, and the whole first-time-buyer menu is variations on one trade: the lowest rate with no help attached, or a higher rate that buys you thousands in down-payment assistance. This tool prices every 1st Time Advantage option you qualify for, side by side with a market-rate loan at your own quote, and puts the two deciding numbers on every card: cash to close and monthly payment.
Every loan priced here is first-time-buyer only, which the program defines as nobody on the loan having owned residential property in the last 3 years. Household income and purchase price are capped county by county; the tool runs those gates with the published 2026 figures and tells you plainly when one fails.
Why this one is different: it treats the assistance honestly. MMP seconds are loans, not grants: 0% interest, no monthly payment, but due in full when the first mortgage ends, and every card says so. It also names the trade nobody prices out loud: assistance products carry higher rates, so the tool computes the exact month where the no-assistance rate has paid back the cash it saved you at closing.
The market-rate field is the one number this tool refuses to invent: an assumed market rate would decide the whole comparison. MMP's side comes from its posted sheet; your side comes from a live quote.
How the math works
Every option is modeled at the minimum-cash down payment, which is the scenario this assistance exists for: conventional at 3% down (the same 97% loan-to-value the MMP rate sheet assumes in its own APR methodology) and FHA at its 3.5% minimum. Each option then runs through the same audited cash-to-close ledger as the main calculator: lender and third-party fees, Maryland transfer and recordation taxes from the county engine, prepaids and escrows, and the monthly payment with taxes, insurance, and mortgage insurance included. Assistance applies to the down payment first and then to closing costs, per the program fact sheets, and what is left is the cash on each card.
Mortgage insurance on MMP conventional options uses the 0.85% annualized assumption the MMP rate sheet itself states, because these are HFA-style loans whose charter-level MI coverage prices off different schedules than the standard published cards; your written MI quote governs. FHA options carry the 1.75% upfront premium financed into the loan, which raises the payment rather than the cash, plus 0.85% annually. Maryland's separate statutory first-time-buyer transfer-tax relief is a different legal test and is deliberately not assumed, so the tax lines err slightly high.
Rates are the posted MMP sheet, date-stamped on the page, zero points by program rule, and locked only at reservation. The sheet reprices daily, so the tool tells you the moment its snapshot is a day old. Income and price limits are the published 2026 figures, effective June 24, 2026. Eligibility results are indicative, not underwriting.
Educational estimate, not an offer of credit and not a program eligibility determination. The Maryland CDA, your lender, and underwriting control the real answer. Nathan Burch NMLS 231804 · Vellum Mortgage, Inc. NMLS 1657323.