Math 1050 Mortgage Project

Name______________________________

Due date: ___________

In this project we will examine a home loan or mortgage. Assume that you have found a home
for sale and have agreed to a purchase price of $201,000.
Down Payment: You are going to make a 10% down payment on the house. Determine the
amount of your down payment and the balance to finance.

$180,900
Mortgage Amount__________________

$20,100
Down Payment______________

Part I: 30 year Mortgage

Monthly Payment: Calculate the monthly payment for a 30 year loan (rounding up to the
nearest cent) by using the following formula. Show your work. [PMT is the monthly loan
payment, P is the mortgage amount, r is the annual percent rate for the loan in decimal, and Y is
the number of years to pay off the loan.] For the 30 year loan use an annual interest rate of
4.975%.

PM T =

( 1r2 )
12Y
1 (1 + 1r2 )
P

Show work here

(180900)(0.04975/12)
-12(30)

1-(1 + 0.04975/12)

749.98125
1-(1.0414583333333)-360
749.98125
0.774495394
968.3482378

$968.35
Monthly Payment for a 30 year mortgage _____________
Note that this monthly payment covers only the interest and the principal on the loan. It does not
cover any insurance or taxes on the property.
Amortization Schedule: In order to summarize all the information regarding the amortization of
a loan, construct a schedule that keeps track of the payment number, the principal paid, the
interest, and the unpaid balance. A spreadsheet program is an excellent tool to develop an

amortization schedule. We can use a free amortization spreadsheet on the web.

The web address is: http://www.bretwhissel.net/amortization/amortize.html. Enter the amount
of the loan, i.e. the selling price minus the down payment, the interest rate, and the appropriate
number of years. Check the box to show the schedule.

$968.35
Amortization Schedule monthly payment for a 30 year mortgage _____________
(Note: if this is more than 2 or 3 cents different from your calculation, check your numbers!)
$167,704.53
Total interest paid over 30 years____________
$348,604.53
Total amount paid _____________
Notice that the amount of the payment that goes towards the principal and the amount that goes
towards the interest are not constant. What do you observe about each of these values?

The amount that goes towards principal increases as

amount in interest decreases.

194.
Number of first payment when more of payment goes toward principal than interest _________
As already mentioned, these payments are for principal and interest only. You will also have
monthly payments for home insurance and property taxes. In addition, it is helpful to have
money left over for those little luxuries like electricity, running water, and food. As a wise home
owner, you decide that your monthly principal and interest payment should not exceed 35% of
your monthly take-home pay. What minimum monthly take-home pay should you have in order
to meet this goal? Show your work for making this calculation.
Show work here

$968.35 = 0.35x
0.35
0.35
x = 2,766.71428571429

$2,766.71
Minimum monthly take home pay = ________________________.

It is also important to note that your net or take-home pay (after taxes) is less than your gross pay
(before taxes). Assuming that your net pay is 73% of your gross pay, what minimum gross
annual salary will you need to make to have the monthly net salary stated above? Show your
work for making this calculation.
Show work here.

$2,766.71 = 0.73x
0.73
0.73
x = 3,790.01
3,790.01 * 12
= 45,480.12

$45,480.12
Minimum gross annual salary = __________________________

Part II: Selling the House

Let's suppose that after living in the house for 10 years, you want to sell. The economy
experiences ups and downs, but in general the value of real estate increases over time. To
calculate the value of an investment such as real estate, we use continuously compounded
interest.
Find the value of the home 10 years after purchase assuming a continuous interest rate of 4%.
Use the full purchase price as the principal. Show your work.
Show work here.

A = Pe

rt

(0.04)(10)

A = 201,000e

A = 299,856.7642

$299,856.76
Value of home 10 years after purchase _______________________

Assuming that you can sell the house for this amount, use the following information to calculate
your gains or losses:

$299,856.76
Selling price of your house ___________________
$20,100
Original down payment ________________
$116,202
Mortgage paid over the ten years _______________
$147,036.48
The principal balance on your loan after ten years __________________
Do you gain or lose money over the 10 years? How much? Show your amounts and summarize
your results:
$299,856.76
Selling Price = $299,856.76
- $283,338.48
Cost:
+ $16,518.28
-$20,100 (Down Payment)
-$116,202 (Mortgage Paid)
+ $147,036.48 (Remaining Loan Balance)

$283,338.48 (Total Cost)

Part III: 15 year Mortgage

Using the same purchase price and down payment, we will investigate a 15 year mortgage.
Monthly Payment: Calculate the monthly payment for a 15 year loan (rounding up to the
nearest cent) by using the following formula. Show your work! [PMT is the monthly loan
payment, P is the mortgage amount, r is the annual percent rate for the loan in decimal, and Y is
the number of years to pay off the loan.] For the 15 year loan use an annual interest rate of
4.735%.

PM T =

( 1r2 )
12Y
1 (1 + 1r2 )
P

Show work here.

(180900)(0.04375/12)
-12(15)

1-(1 + 0.04975/12)

713.80125
1-(1.0414583333333)-180
713.80125
0.5077912733
1405.70

Monthly Payment for a 15 year mortgage = _____________

$1,405.70

Use the amortization spreadsheet on the web again, this time entering the interest rate and
number of payments for a 15 year loan.

$1,405.70
Amortization Schedule monthly payment for a 15 year mortgage _____________
(Note: if this is more than 2 or 3 cents different from your calculation, check your numbers!)
Total interest paid over 15 years____________
$72,126.00
Total amount paid_____________
$253,026.00

5
Number of first payment when more of payment goes toward principal than interest _________
Suppose you paid an additional $100 towards the principal each month. How long would it take
to pay off the loan with this additional payment and how will this affect the total amount of
interest paid on the loan? [If you are making extra payments towards the principal, include it in
the monthly payment and leave the number of payments box blank.]

13 years / 7 months
Length of time to pay off loan with additional payments of $100 per month________________
$64,713.29
Total interest paid over the life of the loan with additional $100 monthly payments___________
$245,613.29
Total amount paid with additional $100 monthly payments_____________
Compare this total amount paid to the total amount paid without extra monthly payments. How
much more or less would you spend if you made the extra principal payments? $7,412.71

Part III: Reflection

Did this project change the way you think about buying a home? Write one paragraph stating
what ideas changed and why. If this project did not change the way you think, write how this
project gave further evidence to support your existing opinion about buying a home. Be specific.

For once, I actually understand a project assigned by the Math Department. As I feel
this learning experience has more real-life applications. I'm currently in the market for
purchasing a home, and acquiring all this knowledge meanwhile I am in the process of
home-buying and shopping for a mortgage loan. It does not hurt to know how the
purchase price of a home can effect my purchase power.
I feel more confident knowing I have had this application be practiced during my
search.