Interactive tool · Companion to Working Paper 01
Estimate the all-in monthly cost of buying a home and how it compares with household income — then put two scenarios side by side. Built alongside The Price of Staying: Washington, DC.
Scenario A: $3,184 per month.
Scenario A
Estimated all-in monthly cost
$3,184
Excludes utilities, maintenance, mortgage insurance and closing costs.
Live chart
What makes up the monthly cost
Monthly dollars, same scale for every scenario. Updates as you type.
| Component | Scenario A |
|---|---|
| Principal & interest | $2,377 |
| Property taxes | $333 |
| Insurance | $125 |
| HOA / condo fees | $350 |
| All-in monthly | $3,184 |
Share of gross monthly income
Shown for context only. Lenders assess ratios differently by loan program; no pass/fail threshold is applied here.
Want the research behind the defaults?
Read Working Paper 01: The Price of Staying — Washington, DCMethod
Standard fixed-rate mortgage arithmetic plus the recurring costs you enter. Every number is calculated in your browser from your inputs.
Monthly payment = L × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)−n), where L is the loan amount (price − down payment), r is the annual rate ÷ 12 and n is years × 12. At a 0% rate the loan is spread evenly: L ÷ n.
Property tax = price × tax rate ÷ 12 (assumes assessed value equals price). Insurance = annual premium ÷ 12. HOA / condo fees as entered — often a large share of condo costs.
Front-end = all-in housing cost ÷ gross monthly income. Back-end = (housing cost + other monthly debts) ÷ gross monthly income. Shown for context; no lending threshold is applied.
Utilities, maintenance, private mortgage insurance (often required below 20% down), special assessments, closing costs and any tax deductions or credits.
$470,000 is the preliminary 2025 DC condominium segment median from Working Paper 01. The 6.5% rate is an illustrative assumption, not a verified Freddie Mac PMMS annual average. The 0.85% tax rate, $1,500 insurance and $350 HOA are illustrative and do not describe DC's actual rates or any property.
Prices ($443,750 and $470,000) are preliminary DC condo segment medians, still being verified. The 4% and 6.5% rates are illustrative, not research-observed values, so results will not exactly match the paper's payment illustration, which uses annual average Freddie Mac rates.
Examples use Washington, DC figures only. Maryland and Northern Virginia are future phases of the research series — coming later.
Working Paper 01: The Price of Staying — Washington, DC explains the data, methods and limitations behind the price defaults.