assignment

Instructions:

For this

as

signment, you will analyze a home mortgage loan.

1. Find a description, asking price, and real estate taxes

of a house for sale, and decide on a

purchase price you would be willing to pay (assuming you have the means

).

Find a current

market interest rate for a 30

–

year fixed

–

rate mortgage having a down payment of 20 percent of

the purchase price.

2. Compute the

down payment, amount financed, and the monthly mortgage payment (showing

how to use the appropriate financial formula).

3. Compute the monthly amount of real estate taxes and add to the monthly mortgage payment

to get the total monthly amount pa

id.

4. Supp

ose that in order to qualify for the loan, the total monthly amount paid cannot exceed 30

percent of monthly income. What is the minimum monthly income needed to qualify for the

loan? What is the minimum annual income needed? (Note: This is a simplified mi

nimum income

requirement calculation, for the purposes of this project, as it does not take into account other

costs such as insurance or other loans or assets currently held.)

5. Construct an amortization table (using spreadsheet software or online resour

ces such

as 

http://www.bankrate.com

).

6. Assume that the first payment is made in January of the current year. Find the month and

year of the last payment. Find the date of the first month

when the amount applied to the

principal exceeds the amount of interest paid. How many of the 360 payments have been made

at this point?

7. Assuming that the mortgage is held for the full 30 years, compute the total principal paid and

the total interest pa

id.

8.Effectively communicate your analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and the results you found to

be particularly interesting, and why.

Your report must include

• name of project and your name

• house’s description, asking price, and real estate taxes

, the purchase price, and the current

market interest rate (include references)

• computations and answers for tasks 2, 3, and 4, amortization table for task 5, answers for task

6, and computations and answers for task 7

• conclusion (task 8)

Instructions: For this assignment, you will analyze a home mortgage loan.

1. Find a description, asking price, and real estate taxes

of a house for sale, and decide on a
purchase price you would be willing to pay (assuming you have the means). Find a current
market interest rate for a 30
–
year fixed
–
rate mortgage having a down payment of 20 percent of
the purchase price.

2. Compute the
down payment, amount financed, and the monthly mortgage payment (showing
how to use the appropriate financial formula).

3. Compute the monthly amount of real estate taxes and add to the monthly mortgage payment
to get the total monthly amount paid.

4. Supp
ose that in order to qualify for the loan, the total monthly amount paid cannot exceed 30
percent of monthly income. What is the minimum monthly income needed to qualify for the
loan? What is the minimum annual income needed? (Note: This is a simplified mi
nimum income
requirement calculation, for the purposes of this project, as it does not take into account other
costs such as insurance or other loans or assets currently held.)

5. Construct an amortization table (using spreadsheet software or online resour
ces such
as

http://www.bankrate.com

).

6. Assume that the first payment is made in January of the current year. Find the month and
year of the last payment. Find the date of the first month
when the amount applied to the
principal exceeds the amount of interest paid. How many of the 360 payments have been made
at this point?

7. Assuming that the mortgage is held for the full 30 years, compute the total principal paid and
the total interest pa
id.

8.Effectively communicate your analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and the results you found to
be particularly interesting, and why.

Your report must include

• name of project and your name

• house’s description, asking price, and real estate taxes
, the purchase price, and the current
market interest rate (include references)

• computations and answers for tasks 2, 3, and 4, amortization table for task 5, answers for task
6, and computations and answers for task 7

• conclusion (task 8)

Page 1 of 4

(Sample) Loan Project: Buying a House in Purcellville, Virginia
Submitted by Suzanne Sands

Purpose: To analyze the financial implications of purchasing a house.

Task (1): House Description:

I decided to choose a house in my hometown. This house is typical of homes in the new developments
around town. I have no interest in moving, though — I am happy in my own house, which was built in the
1970s and does not look like this house at all!)

Asking price: $439,000

Real estate taxes: $4,836 (found in the http://www.loudoun.gov property database)

Purchase Price: $388,400 (I chose this value because it was the assessed value at the time this project
was prepared, according to the county property database)

Current market interest rate (30 yr fixed rate): 4.625% through AimLoan.com (found at
http://www.bankrate.com, by doing a search for my zipcode)

[NOTE: This sample project was completed quite some time ago, so interest rates, taxes, and purchase prices could
be quite different now.]

Page 2 of 4

Task (2)
20% down payment: $77,680 (= 0.20 x $388,400)
Amount financed (i.e., amount borrowed): $310,720 (= $388,400 – 77,680)
Monthly mortgage payment: $1,597.53 (see below for details of calculation)

Payment calculation:

• present value PV = $310,720
• annual interest rate r = 0.04625
• interest compounded m = 12 times per year
• number of payments n = 30 x 12 = 360 The interest rate per month is i = r/m = 0.04625/12.

The monthly mortgage payment PMT is

��� = ��
�

�� �
���
= 310,720

�.�����/��

� � �
�.�����/�������
≈ 310,720

�.�� !����”

���.��� ���

≈ 310,720 0.005141396� = $1,597.53

Remark: Intermediate results must be computed with great precision, so that the final value has 6 digits of accuracy
(an amount involving dollars and cents, with the dollar amount in the thousands).

Task (3):

Monthly real estate taxes: $403.00 (= $4836/12)

Total monthly payment = Monthly mortgage payment + Monthly taxes = 1597.53 + 403.00 = $2000.53

The total monthly payment is used when determining the income level needed to afford the home.

Task (4): Minimum income requirement

Total monthly payment ≤ 0.30 x Monthly Income
(Total monthly payment)/0.30 ≤ Monthly Income

Monthly Income ≥ (Total monthly payment)/0.30 = $2000.53/(0.30) = $6,668.43

Annual income = 12(Monthly Income) = 12($6668.43) = $80,021.16

In order to qualify for the loan, the monthly income must be at least $6,668.43, and the annual income
must be at least $80,021.16.

Task (5): Amortization Table — See separate document (generated by using the amortization schedule
calculator at http://www.bankrate.com , pasted into a spreadsheet, and then reformatted to paste into a Word
document).

Task (6)
In this sample project, the mortgage was set up in December, 2008, with the first payment in January,
2009.

By consulting the amortization table, January, 2024 is the first month when the amount applied to the
principal ($799.35) exceeds the amount of interest ($799.18) paid. This is the 181

st
payment.

Page 3 of 4

Task (7)
After 24 years, 24(12) = 288 payments have been made, so there are 360 – 288 = 72 payments
remaining. To find the unpaid balance, calculate PV, the amount remaining to be paid off by 72 monthly
payments of $1,597.53 at an interest rate of 4.625% compounded monthly.

�� = ���
� � �
���

�
= 1,597.53

� � �
�.�����/����()

�.�����/��

= 1,597.53
���.”�!�”*!�

�.�� !�����”
= $100,274.55

The unpaid balance after 24 years is $100,275 (rounded to the nearest dollar)
Notice that this amount agrees with the amount in the amortization table for the unpaid balance after 288
payments. (It is very close but not precisely the same as the amount in the amortization table, because in going month to month
in the table, there are issues involving repeated rounding to the nearest cent, accumulating over time.)

Since $100,275/310,720 ≈ 0.323, the unpaid amount after 24 years is 32.3% of the amount financed.

Task (8) [Assuming the loan is held for the full 30 years]
Total principal paid = Amount borrowed = $310,720

Total interest paid = 360($1597.53) – $310,720 = $264,390.80

Task (9) Conclusion
For a 30-year loan of $310,720 at an interest rate of 4.625%, the monthly payment is $1,597.53, and the
borrower would need a minimum annual income of about $80,000 to qualify for the loan.

It takes a bit over 15 years to reach the point where the monthly principal applied is larger than the
monthly interest paid. After 24 years, nearly a third of the amount borrowed is still owed.

If the mortgage is held for the full 30 years, then $264,391 will be paid in interest, which is 85% of the
amount borrowed.

Without understanding a loan analysis, a common misconception is that the unpaid balance is reduced by
the same amount each year. However, interest is charged monthly on the amount owed, which is very
large at the beginning and gradually diminishes. A quick scan of the amortization table confirms that in
the start of the 30 year mortgage, almost all of the monthly payment is interest paid to the lender, and
little is applied to reducing the principal. Indeed, for the loan in this project, it takes over half of the 30 year
period before more of the monthly payment is applied to reducing the principal than in paying interest.
And, when four-fifths of the 30 year period has elapsed, about a third of the amount borrowed is still
owed.

Extra credit:

Scenario: Smaller down payment
Suppose the down payment is just 10% of the purchase price. (Assume the loan is still a 30-year fixed
rate mortgage at the same interest rate.)

10% down payment: $38,840 (= 0.10 x $388,400)
Amount financed: $349,560 (= $388,400 – $38,840)
Monthly mortgage payment: $1,797.23 (see below for details of calculation)

Payment calculation:

• present value PV = $349,560
• annual interest rate r = 0.04625
• interest compounded m = 12 times per year
• number of payments n = 30 x 12 = 360 The interest rate per month is i = r/m = 0.04625/12.

Page 4 of 4

The monthly mortgage payment PMT is

��� = ��
�

�� �
���
= 349,560

�.�����/��

� � �
�.�����/�������
≈ 349,560

�.�� !����”
���.��� ���

≈ 349,560 0.005141396� = $1,797.23

Scenario: Shorter term
Suppose the loan is a 15-year fixed rate mortgage. (Assume the loan has the same interest rate and that
the down payment is 20% of the purchase price.)

20% down payment: $77,680 (= 0.20 x $388,400)
Amount financed: $310,720 (= $388,400 – 77,680)
Monthly mortgage payment: $2,396.89 (see below for details of calculation)

Payment calculation: .

• present value PV = $310,720
• annual interest rate r = 0.04625
• interest compounded m = 12 times per year
• number of payments n = 15 x 12 = 180 The interest rate per month is i = r/m = 0.04625/12.

The monthly mortgage payment PMT is

��� = ��
�

�� �
���
= 310,720

�.�����/��

� � �
�.�����/����+,�
≈ 310,720

�.�� !����”

���.��� ����!

≈ 310,720 0.007713972� = $2,396.89

Comparison of Mortgages
Scenario Original

(20% down, 30 years)

Smaller Down Payment
(10% down, 30 years)

Shorter Term
(15 years, 20% down)

Purchase Price $388,400 $388,400 $388,400
Down Payment $77,680 $38,840 $77,680
Amount Financed (PV) $310,720 $349,560 $310,720
Annual Interest Rate 4.625% 4.625% 4.625%
Number of Payments 360 360 180
Monthly Payment (PMT) $1,597.53 $1,797.23 $2,396.89
Total Interest Paid (If loan
held for entire term)

$264,390.80 $297,442.80 $120,720.20

Conclusion: (Drawn from extra credit scenarios)

By making a 20% down payment rather than a 10% down payment, the borrower saves about $33,000

( ≈ $297,443 – 264,391) in interest over the course of the loan. The 20% down payment also provides
more of a cushion in case real estate values decline. With a 20% down payment, a borrower is less likely
to be “underwater” later, owing more than the property is valued.

By taking out a 15-year loan of $310,720 rather than a 30-year loan, the borrower saves over $143,600

( ≈ $264,391 – 120,720) in interest over the course of the loan. For the 15-year mortgage, $120,720 will
be paid in interest, which is about 39% of the amount borrowed. However, since the monthly payment is
$2,396.89, substantially higher than for the 30-year loan, the borrower will need a higher annual income.
For this 15-year loan, the borrower would need a minimum annual income of about $112,000

[ ≈ 12(2397 + 403)/0.30] to qualify for the loan.