For agents
The cost of waiting, in numbers your client can check
A buyer on the fence is doing this arithmetic badly in their head. Do it properly in front of them — with assumptions they set themselves, so the answer is theirs rather than yours.
Benefit of buying now
$230,810
That is what buying now is worth against waiting 2 years, on the assumptions below. Change anything below and this number moves with it.
The house today
Held at the same percentage if the purchase is delayed.
Of the property's value, per year. Rises with the price.
Subtracted from the benefit. Zero if you would not refinance.
Your two assumptions — change them
Everything below this line is a guess about the future, and it is your guess, not a forecast from this site. The rate starts at no change on purpose: which way rates move is a much bigger claim than roughly how much houses appreciate, and this tool will not make it for your buyer.
Optional. Enter one and this shows what prices there actually did over the last 30 years.
An assumption — your buyer's, not a forecast and not a promise from this site. It drives the future price, the payment that comes with it, and the extra down payment below. A ZIP code above sets the starting point; change it to whatever you actually believe, including a negative number.
No ZIP code entered, so the assumption on the right is starting from this site's default rather than from local history.
Your own estimate, not a forecast. Leave it at no change and the result makes no claim about rates at all.
Waiting 2 years
Appreciation they would not own
$2,000,000 becomes $2,205,000 at 5.00%/yr.
$205,000
Cost of waiting, sized over their first 24 months as an owner
$1,346.25/mo more, for 24 months.
They're not paying this during the wait — they're renting. This shows how big the payment gap will be once they do buy, spread over a period as long as the wait, so delays are easy to compare.
$32,310
Less: refinancing later
Only if the plan is to refinance out of today's rate.
−$6,500
Benefit of buying now
$230,810
The monthly payment, either way
Buy now
$11,050.80 principal & interest + $2,083.33 tax, insurance & maintenance. Loan $1,600,000.
$13,134.14/mo
Buy in 2 years
$12,183.51 principal & interest + $2,296.88. Loan $1,764,000.
$14,480.38/mo
Where the $1,346.25 gap comes from
- A bigger loan on a more expensive house$1,132.71
- Tax, insurance & maintenance on a more expensive house$213.54
- Your rate assumption$0.00
The rate line is exactly zero because you have not assumed a rate change. Every dollar of the gap above is the larger loan and the larger house — no forecast is doing any of the work.
The down payment moves too
Extra down payment needed
$41,000
At 20% down, $2,000,000 needs $400,000 today. After 2 years at 5.00%/yr the same house is $2,205,000, and the same percentage of it is $441,000 — $41,000 more cash, due in full on the day they close.
This is not one of the lines in the benefit figure above — it is a separate hurdle, and it is the part of waiting that a monthly-payment comparison hides. Somebody saving toward a percentage is saving toward a target that moves while they save.
Price and payment at each checkpoint
Both lines are driven entirely by the assumptions you set above. Move them and these move with them.
What the house costs
What it costs per month
These are assumptions, not predictions. Nobody knows where prices or rates go next — change the figures above to match what you actually believe, and treat the result as a comparison, not a forecast.
Appreciation compounds at a flat annual rate. Every figure is principal, interest and the tax/insurance/maintenance estimate you set — it excludes mortgage insurance, HOA dues, closing costs and the tax treatment of interest, and it is an illustration generated from the numbers above, not a quote, an approval, or an offer of credit.
Want to talk this through?
Send Mike your question and he’ll come back to you. No numbers, no obligation — just a conversation. Prefer to apply right now? The button just below goes straight to the application.
Opens OriginPoint’s secure online application in a new tab.
Prefer to talk? Call Mike at (415) 517-0900, or text