Mortgage SIM by Visual Byte Inc.

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.handango.com/brainstore/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=20719' target='_blank'>http://www.handango.com/brainstore/...productId=20719</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.handango.com/include/pictures/82396/MortAnt.gif" /><br /><br />"Are you taking advantage of low interest rates? Using Mortgage SIM may help you save even more. Canadian and US style mortgage scenarios can be tested and analyzed with just a few clicks of your stylus. Real-estate agents, financial planners, real-estate lawyers, bankers, lenders or anyone shopping for a mortgage will benefit from the valuable information generated by this mortgage simulator. The program calculates payments for virtually any term, any rate and any principal mortgage amount. <br /><br />Three common “Fast-Pay” methods are used to provide comparative payments for Weekly, Bi-Weekly and Semi-Monthly payment schedules. So in a glance you can easily compare and analyze the savings and term lengths of ten different payment approaches. If you need more information this program also generates detailed Amortization Schedules for any of the ten different payment options in each mortgage simulation. The flexibility of this tool also allows prospective buyers to calculate the size of mortgage that they could afford based on a predetermined monthly payment, rate and term. Modifying and reworking any scenario is as simple as adjusting a number and hitting the Calc key again. This program was designed specifically with the use of a stylus on the Pocket PC in mind, and provides a convenient input keypad for entering numbers right on screen."<br /><br />You can <a href="http://download.handango.com/shareware/82396/msimarmdemohi.zip">download the free trial</a> or <a href="http://www.handango.com/brainstore/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=20719">purchase it for $19.99</a>.

[jpaq]

This looks interesting but where do you enter your down payment, homeowners insurance, flood insurance, taxes, homeowners dues, possible mortgage insurance....all of the things that make up escrow and are used to calculate your true monthly expense. I may not see it. These things might be there, but if their not, this is good to calculate a number that you will never see, unless it is as part of your actual mortgage payment which contians all of the other variables.

Am I off base? I see that the currency selector is set to Canadian dollars. Are these things not part of a mortgage payment in Canada?

Don't get me wrong. I have been toyuing with these calculations in ecel for years. I really think this kind of thing could be very useful.

I think that this and other application related to real estate could create a really good niche in the PDA market for realtors. They just need to be marketed. :D

[Paragon]

Hey jpaq

I think the idea here is to figure out what your options are for a mortgage so that you know what to plug in with the rest of the numbers you mentioned. It's a mortgage sim. Not a monthly bill sim.

Besides all that other stuff you mentioned is free here in Canada. :)

Dave

[Kati Compton]

This looks interesting but where do you enter your down payment, homeowners insurance, flood insurance, taxes, homeowners dues, possible mortgage insurance....all of the things that make up escrow and are used to calculate your true monthly expense. I may not see it. These things might be there, but if their not, this is good to calculate a number that you will never see, unless it is as part of your actual mortgage payment which contians all of the other variables.

As far as I'm aware, the mortgage is the price of the house minus the down payment. So you wouldn't enter it. For a $200K house with a 20% down payment, you wouldn't create a $200K mortgage then put a payment of $40K, you'd just create a $160K mortgage. As for all of the others but taxes, those were all separate bills, and not part of the mortgage payments in my case (but I didn't have mortgage insurance, so I don't know about that one). But my homeowner's insurance is paid to Allstate, not my mortgage company. Which means it wouldn't make sense to include here.

[szamot]

I really dig this program, I use it quite a lot - every time I want to buy a new toy I look at it to see how much interest the bank is stealing from me this month. I highly recommend it.

[trachy]

As far as I'm aware, the mortgage is the price of the house minus the down payment. So you wouldn't enter it. For a $200K house with a 20% down payment, you wouldn't create a $200K mortgage then put a payment of $40K, you'd just create a $160K mortgage. As for all of the others but taxes, those were all separate bills, and not part of the mortgage payments in my case (but I didn't have mortgage insurance, so I don't know about that one). But my homeowner's insurance is paid to Allstate, not my mortgage company. Which means it wouldn't make sense to include here.

Realtor alert! Realtor alert! :-)

Your mortgage usually consists of the price of the house less down payments and/or allowances. At closing it may also include:
- Bundled mortgage costs (recording fees, doc prep fees, etc)
- Doc stamps on notes, deeds
- Miscellaneous state taxes
- Title insurance
- Bank funding fees
- Prorated taxes, association fees, etc
Separate from your mortgage is usually your monthly escrow. This is designed to be a simple savings plan that pays for the following at certain intervals:
- Homeowners insurance
- Flood, hurricane, tornado insurance
- Property taxes
In a nutshell, tons of things can go into a mortgage. This program could definitely benefit from having fields to enter some of this stuff into. Too often buyers don't consider all these things when shopping. Of course, a lot of these things vary from state to state, so there's no way they could cover all the bases. The basics as mentioned by others - insurance, property taxes - should definitely be in there.

One other thing. Why the heck are they charging so much? This thing is basically a spruced up spreadsheet/calculator!

- Drew

[CharlesWilcox]

There is a company called Calculated Industries (http://www.calculated.com/). They make mortgage calculators, construction calculators, ect. As far as I'm concerned they make the very best mortgage calc available (most functions, fewest keystrokes necessary to reach varible, ect.) I've been talking with them for a while about creating an emulator for PPC. Lygea offers one for the HP 12-C (http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&jid=1B249D41DCDX643DA9BAD8DCB55X1XX5&productId=38584&optionId=1_2_2&productType=2&catalog=30&txtSearch=mortgage+calculators&posit=25&sectionId=0&platformId=2). I'm far from a developer so I have no idea what's envolved.

I am in the mortgage business. The reason why a realtor or mortgage broker would want functions for insurance, MI, taxes, etc. is because qualifying for a mortgage is partially based on ratios between your total housing expense (including the above mentioned figures) and your income (front end) and your entire debt to income ratio (back end). The bank will allow the total cost of your housing to be 38%, for example, of your gross monthly income. And your entire debt load, including the housing expense, to be 45%.

[Don Tolson]

I think people have to be careful here in the differences between what can be paid via a mortgage in Canada vs. the States.

In Canada, the mortgage is usually taken out for the price of the house minus the down payment, and then adding in amounts for 'closing fees', brokerage fees, legal fees, etc. in setting up the mortgage (although many financial institutions here up north will throw those in for free). Plus, you can also ask the mortgager (in some cases -- most notably banks) to take additional amounts to cover your local property taxes. You can also take out mortgage insurance, if you wish.

All the other 'escrow' costs I saw listed by our US friends, are billed separately from other agencies (house insurance, fire insurance, tornado, etc.)

[Kati Compton]

I think people have to be careful here in the differences between what can be paid via a mortgage in Canada vs. the States.
And I think there are different options in general. I paid closing costs up front. Property taxes were paid through the mortgage company (escrow), but other than that, it was just the principal and interest of the mortgage in the mortgage payments.

[Lday]

When I bought my house last year I used Greg Fisher's MortgageCALC application. It is freeware for individual non-commercial use. It allows most of what I see in this app, plus a field for Fees/Other. I plugged an estimate on PMI, property taxes, insurance and other fees I pay through escrow. It also makes amortization tables. Sorry, but I don't recall where I got it. I just don't see paying $19.95 for this.

[trachy]

I think people have to be careful here in the differences between what can be paid via a mortgage in Canada vs. the States.
And I think there are different options in general. I paid closing costs up front. Property taxes were paid through the mortgage company (escrow), but other than that, it was just the principal and interest of the mortgage in the mortgage payments.

You're both absolutely right, and that was the point I was trying (unsuccessfully?) to make. Purchasing a house is worse than buying a car, in the respect that no two transactions are alike. Taxing authorities, insurance companies, lenders, and brokers vary with jurisdictions, regions, etc. Heck, there isn't even a status quo in my market. Every transaction brings something unique to the table.

- Drew

[trachy]

Three common “Fast-Pay” methods are used to provide comparative payments for Weekly, Bi-Weekly and Semi-Monthly payment schedules. So in a glance you can easily compare and analyze the savings and term lengths of ten different payment approaches.

Back on topic for a second, I think the above is what sets this app apart from the competition. Amortization tables are cute, but this kind of immediate access to comparative payments based on term lengths is excellent. Still, $20 seems a bit steep to me. Make it $10 and I'm there.

[drop]

When I bought my house last year I used Greg Fisher's MortgageCALC application. It is freeware for individual non-commercial use. It allows most of what I see in this app, plus a field for Fees/Other. I plugged an estimate on PMI, property taxes, insurance and other fees I pay through escrow. It also makes amortization tables. Sorry, but I don't recall where I got it. I just don't see paying $19.95 for this.

Is this (http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gm_fisher/) the one, Lday?

[Lday]

Exactly! Thanks for the link.

[cgavula]

None of them are going to earn my money until they start supporting the newer AAC files.

--Chris

[trachy]

Is this (http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gm_fisher/) the one, Lday?

This is a pretty good calc, I agree. My only beef is that it's a dog. The thing takes forever to load up. Still, for free who can complain?

[jpaq]

As I suspected, the difference seems to lie in the location that the mortgage is being calculated in.

It appears that in Canada (eh) a mortgage is the home loan and that's pretty much it.

In the U.S., when you receive your mortgage bill/statement every month, your payment consists of:
- Home Loan
- Homeowners Insurance: Escrow
- Flood Insurance Where Applicable: Escrow
- Estimated Property Taxes: Escrow
- Private Mortgage Insurance Where Applicable: Escrow
- Points paid to decrease interest rate

These make up the most common, and I think, most consistent variables that are incounterered in the vast majority of "Mortgage Payments" in the U.S.
Then there are the ARM mortgage variables with interest rates that can increase over the 3 or 5 year term. these interest rates have maximum per year increases that many would be interested in seeing how they would affect their monthly payment...

Solution?
Maybe a U.S. and a Canada version.
Add open fields with settings for labels, interest charged, etc.

To the point others made, in it's current state, this does seem to be a glorified spreadsheet calculator. At that, it is a bit pricey. Add some of these other features, and you may have something worth the asking price.

Edit:
Provide a feature that will export a printable document with summary info. to your My Documents folder (So you can print it once you sync) and you REALLY have something that would interest both individuals and Realtors.

[drop]

Exactly! Thanks for the link.

:D As a matter of fact, I am meeting with mortgage lenders to discuss refinancing. This topic couldn't be more timely. Thank you for suggesting this free app.

trachy is right. MortgageCALC takes a while to load. But once loaded, all the reports and amortization tables show up pretty quickly.

I like to scare the lenders :twisted: .