Plain-English mortgage guides
Home-loan guides without the jargon.
Buying, refinancing, locking a rate, or just figuring out what you can afford — the guides walk through it in plain English, with no jargon and no pressure.
Let’s start with the question everyone asks
“So… what would my payment actually be?”
Slide the numbers around and watch your estimated monthly payment update live. I include the stuff people forget — taxes, insurance, and PMI — because the sticker payment is never the whole story.
- ✓Real amortization math, not a teaser number
- ✓Shows how a bigger down payment drops your PMI
- ✓Nothing saved, nothing sold — just a head start
Estimated monthly payment
$2,808
per month, all-in
- Principal & interest
- $2,162
- Property tax (est.)
- $348
- Homeowner's insurance (est.)
- $127
- Mortgage insurance (PMI, est.)
- $171
- Loan amount (30-yr)
- $342,000
A friendly estimate, not a quote. Rates shown are examples, not offers. Taxes, insurance, and PMI are rough national averages — your real numbers depend on your area and lender. Want me to run yours? Read the guides and reach out.
Free reading, no email required
My guides
The same explanations I give clients, written down so you can read them at midnight when the question won’t let you sleep.
How the IRS Calculates Capital Gains Exclusion When You Sell Your Home
Learn how the IRS calculates the capital gains exclusion—$250,000 for single filers or $500,000 for married couples filing jointly —when you sell your primary residence, using the two-out-of-five-year ownership-and-use test.
Read the guide→How to Ask Your Loan Officer About Closing Cost Changes
Ask your loan officer which fees on your Loan Estimate can still change before closing and which cannot, and request a written explanation of how each fee is allowed to change.
Read the guide→How Mortgage Servicers Must Respond to a Notice of Error Under Regulation X
When you spot an error on your mortgage statement, federal rules require your servicer to acknowledge your notice in writing within 5 business days — unless the servicer simply corrects the error and notifies you of that correction in writing within the same window.
Read the guide→How Escrow Account Analysis Determines Shortage or Surplus Each Year
This explainer uses a hypothetical worked example to show how that calculation works.
Read the guide→When PMI Ends: The 80% and 78% Rule for Fixed-Rate Mortgages
Federal law sets two PMI milestones for fixed-rate mortgages from your loan's original amortization schedule: you can request cancellation when the balance reaches 80% of original value, and the lender must terminate it automatically at 78% of original value if you're current.
Read the guide→APR vs. Interest Rate: How Regulation Z Changes the Math
When you shop a mortgage, you see an interest rate and an APR—and they're rarely the same. Regulation Z defines APR as a measure of the cost of credit that relates the amount and timing of value received to the amount and timing of payments made.
Read the guide→Have a question keeping you up at night?
Most questions are answered in the guides. If you’re still stuck, email the desk — and confirm your numbers with a licensed lender before you commit.
— The Home Loans by Jaime Desk