There are many mortgage calculators you can find on the internet as well as various variations. The most common mortgage calculator works out how much you can borrow from a UK mortgage lender. You enter your income and your partner’s income if applicable and the calculator will produce a figure to give you an idea of what you can borrow. This is a good starting point, narrowing down for most what homes they can look at buying. This of course is just an indication and the borrowing offered by lenders will vary. Other criteria are also taken into consideration when deciding on whether to offer or not such as credit history and financial commitments.

Another useful calculator is the monthly repayment mortgage calculator. Working out what your monthly payments might be for your mortgage in relation to how much you want to borrow, the term of the mortgage and the current interest rate. As interest rates are constantly changing at the moment it is worthwhile doing a few calculations to see if you can still afford to borrow the sum once interest rates return to rates seen a few years ago. There are other calculators available that will allow you to compare two rates, highlighting approximately how much more you will have to pay on a monthly and usually annual basis.

You can also find a mortgage calculator that will work out whether it is worth remortgaging even if you have to pay early repayment charges. Very useful especially at the moment for those who took out fixed rate mortgage deals in the last year or two. They could potentially save hundreds of pounds per month by getting our early and moving on to a variable rate.

There are many other useful calculators available. If you are after a buy to let mortgage, you can get a Mortgage Calculator that will estimate the rent you need to charge your tenant to satisfy lenders.

There are many useful mortgage calculators available, helping you to decide with your house purchase.

Real estate has been an outstanding investment in most parts of Canada in the past few years. Home valuations are continuing to rise and have broken through the peak of their 1989 “bubble” in many areas of the country. That’s good news for Canada’s 7.5 million home owners, who are enjoying an average increase of $43,000 in real estate wealth since the upward trend took hold in 1998.

The hot housing market is being fuelled by mortgage rates which are the lowest they’ve been in almost 50 years. First-time home buyers are finding the rates attractive, and home buyers are lining up to purchase their first home or to upgrade to their dream homes. Housing statistics have been capturing headlines for months and the boom is noticeable on key economic indicators.

But the news isn’t just about rising valuations or Canadians moving into their new homes. Quietly in the background, there is a significant trend to refinancing. Canadians who have built up the equity in their home over the last few years are borrowing against that equity in record numbers. According to a report from a major bank, since 2001, Canadian households have taken out approximately $20 billion in cash out of their homes through mortgage refinancing and home equity loans.

We might thank the Ontario mortgage industry for the surprising resilience of the North American economy. In the past two years, the North American economy has endured numerous economic fallouts but consumer confidence remains reasonably strong – at least partly because homeowners have seen some of their losses offset by an increase in their real estate wealth. We find that we are sitting on (and sleeping in) the best-performing investment we own. And even if they have no plans to sell, homeowners have found that the return on their investment is still as good as cash in the bank.

That cash has been a key economic stimulus both here and in the U.S., where the trend is even more pronounced. As Canadians look beyond the view of a home as primarily shelter, mortgages become a valuable resource – and homeowners aren’t necessarily waiting for renewal time to cash out some of their gains.

So where is the money going? The equity being pulled out is often being used to pay down other more expensive debt. Credit card interest rates are shockingly high and – as a nation – our credit card and other consumer debt is continuing to grow. And much of the money is being used for increased spending. There has never been a better time to borrow against home equity to build the kitchen of your dreams, add a new wing, embark on the landscaping project you’ve wanted for years, enjoy the vacation you’ve always dreamed of, or help with the high cost of post secondary education. However, as always, never let your enthusiasm for the opportunity to spend get in the way of good common sense about debt management.