Google’s popular search engine has plenty of handy features built in, like their currency and measurement converters, and they’re adding one more to the list: A mortgage calculator. All one has to do is type “mortgage calculator” or “interest calculation” into Google and the calculator will pop up for you to enter information to get the numbers crunched.
There are no bells and whistles here, it’s a super quick and easy process to find monthly payments and total cost of mortgage based on interest rate and length of loan.
If consumers need something more in depth, they will still have to head over to lender sites, realtor.com, or a broker’s website for those calculations since Google’s calculator doesn’t account for anything fancy like PMI or down payments.
Will Google add more to the calculator?
Variables like escrow, property taxes, and homeowner’s insurance are even harder to estimate with an online calculator. Google has not announced whether they plan to add any of these more detailed features into their tool.
Google snuck in a short announcement a few days ago about the new search feature on their Google+ news feed, “Preparing for homeownership just got a bit easier. Starting today you can ask Google things like “How much can I borrow at $200 a month?” or “At 5% APR how much can I borrow over 10 years?” You can even adjust the mortgage amount, interest rate, mortgage period and more to see which financial options fit your needs.”
Works on desktop and mobile, roll out is gradual
While several financial websites already offer similar tools, Google just made it a lot easier for people to calculate these numbers without navigating away from their search engine. It will be attractive to people who are looking for a quick answer or potential homeowners looking to do some basic planning before they consult with their realtor or loan officer (although they’re left to guess at the interest rate they’ll qualify for).
The mortgage calculator is not only available on standard desktop platforms but also formatted for mobile devices. Don’t worry if you don’t see it on your platform just yet since the roll out has been gradual and doesn’t seem to be working yet in any other region besides the U.S.
Emily Crews is a staff writer at The American Genius and holds a degree in English from Western Kentucky University. Reading, music, black coffee, and her two little girls rule her life. She sees herself one day running a tiny bookstore at the end of the Earth. In the meantime, she is thrilled to write for AG and also does copy editing (team Oxford comma) to keep her brain from turning to mush.
