#mortgage

Your early mortgage payments are almost all interest, and almost none of it touches the balance. Here is how amortization, PITI, escrow, and extra payments actually work, with a real schedule.

Owning a home costs way more than the mortgage. Once you count maintenance, taxes, insurance, closing costs, and the opportunity cost of your down payment, renting stops looking like throwing money away. Here is the real math.

FHA loans are the workhorse of first-time-buyer financing in the US. There are actually six different FHA programs, and most buyers default to the standard 203(b) without knowing the alternatives.

Both products let you tap home equity. The math behind which one is right depends on rates, your existing mortgage, and what you’re actually trying to do with the money. Here’s the framework.