What does the default example show?

A 400,000 dollar property with 20 percent down at 6.5 percent, held 10 years with 3.5 percent annual appreciation. It grows to 564,240 dollars, 271,284 dollars of mortgage remains, and after selling costs you net 259,102 dollars — 179,102 more than the 80,000 dollar deposit.

Are selling costs included?

Yes, at a fixed 6 percent of the future sale price, deducted automatically. There is no field for it and it is not shown as its own row, so it is worth knowing it is there: on the defaults that is 33,854 dollars quietly removed before the net proceeds figure you see.

Is "total equity gain" my actual profit?

No, and this is the most important caveat on the page. It subtracts only your deposit — it ignores the 120 mortgage payments you made over those ten years, roughly 242,714 dollars on the defaults. Read it as equity built, not as investment return.

So did I make money or not?

On the defaults, cash out of 259,102 against cash in of 322,714 — deposit plus payments — is about 63,600 dollars behind in pure cash terms. That is not the whole story, because those payments replaced rent you would have paid anyway. Use the rent vs buy calculator for the fair comparison.

What mortgage term does it assume?

A 30-year term, hardcoded, with no input to change it. The holding period only decides how far into that 30-year schedule you have got when you sell, so at 10 years you are 120 payments into 360. A 15-year mortgage would leave far less outstanding and is not modelled.

Can I model a falling market?

Yes, and it is worth doing. The appreciation field accepts negative values down to minus 10 percent a year. Set it to zero to see what happens with no growth at all, which is the scenario that reveals how much of a projected gain depends on the market rather than on the property.

Does it account for rental income?

No. This models buying, holding and selling a property, not letting it out. For rental yield, cap rate, monthly cash flow and cash-on-cash return, use the rental property calculator instead, which is built around income rather than appreciation.

What else is left out?

Closing costs when you buy, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, HOA fees, capital gains tax on the sale, and any refinancing. Those all reduce the real outcome, so treat every figure here as an optimistic upper bound rather than a forecast.

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Property investment & net sale proceeds

Purchase price ($)Down payment (%)Mortgage rate (%)Holding period (yrs)Annual appreciation rate (%)

Net sale proceeds$259,102
Estimated future property value$564,240
Remaining mortgage balance$271,284
Initial down payment$80,000
Total equity gain$179,102

Calculated in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere.

A real estate calculator that projects what a property is worth after a holding period and what actually reaches you on sale — future value, remaining mortgage, and net sale proceeds after selling costs. Everything is computed in your browser and nothing is transmitted.

The default example, line by line

A $400,000 property, 20% down, 6.5% mortgage, held 10 years, appreciating 3.5% a year:

Every output and where it comes from.
Output	Value	How it is worked out
Initial down payment	$80,000	20% of $400,000
Future property value	$564,240	$400,000 compounded at 3.5% for 10 years
Remaining mortgage balance	$271,284	$320,000 loan, 120 of 360 payments made
Net sale proceeds	$259,102	Future value − mortgage − 6% selling costs
Total equity gain	$179,102	Net proceeds − the deposit only

Two things are happening in that table that are not labelled on screen. Selling costs of 6% are deducted silently — $33,854 here — with no field to adjust them and no row showing them. And the last row is the one to be careful with.

"Total equity gain" is not profit

This is the most important thing on the page. That $179,102 subtracts your deposit andnothing else. It does not subtract the 120 mortgage payments you made across those ten years — about $242,714 on these figures.

Cash actually in and out on the default example.
Direction	Item	Amount
Out	Down payment	$80,000
Out	120 mortgage payments	$242,714
Out	Total cash in	$322,714
In	Net sale proceeds	$259,102
Net	Pure cash position	−$63,612

Read on its own, that looks like a disaster — and it would be misleading to leave it there, becausethose mortgage payments replaced rent you would have paid anyway. If renting an equivalent home would have cost more than about $2,020 a month over the decade, buying came out ahead. That is the genuine comparison, and it is what the rent vs buy calculator is for.

The honest summary: use this tool for equity and proceeds, which is what it computes well. Do not read the gain figure as a return on investment.

Assumptions you cannot change

Fixed behaviour and what it means for your figures.
Assumption	Fixed at	Effect
Mortgage term	30 years	A 15-year loan would leave far less outstanding
Selling costs	6% of sale price	Agent fees vary widely by market
Appreciation	Compounded annually, your rate	Accepts negative values, down to −10%
Rental income	Not modelled	Use the rental property calculator
Purchase closing costs	Not modelled	Typically 2–5% on top of your deposit
Taxes, insurance, maintenance	Not modelled	All reduce the real outcome
Capital gains tax	Not modelled	May apply on a non-primary residence

Stress-test the appreciation rate first

Of the five inputs, appreciation is both the most influential and the one nobody can know. The whole projection rests on it, so the useful way to use this tool is not to find one answer but to bracket a range.

Run it at 0%. This is the single most informative scenario, because it strips out market growth and shows what your own payments built.
Run it negative. The field goes to −10% a year. A few flat-to-falling years early in a mortgage is the classic route to negative equity.
Run your real horizon. Selling costs are charged on the future value, so a short hold in a flat market can lose money even with no market fall at all.
Compare against renting. Every scenario above is only meaningful next to what renting would have cost.

That third point deserves emphasis: because 6% comes off the sale price, a property needs to appreciate by roughly that much just to break even on transaction costs. Buying and selling within two or three years is expensive almost regardless of the market.

Related calculators

For the comparison this tool cannot make, use therent vs buy calculator. If the property is an income investment, therental property calculator gives cap rate and monthly cash flow. Size the loan itself with the mortgage calculator, which shows the full amortisation schedule, and check what you can borrow with thehouse affordability calculator. Thedown payment calculator works the deposit, and if you already own, the home equity loan calculator prices borrowing against the equity this tool projects.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the default example show?
A 400,000 dollar property with 20 percent down at 6.5 percent, held 10 years with 3.5 percent annual appreciation. It grows to 564,240 dollars, 271,284 dollars of mortgage remains, and after selling costs you net 259,102 dollars — 179,102 more than the 80,000 dollar deposit.
Are selling costs included?
Yes, at a fixed 6 percent of the future sale price, deducted automatically. There is no field for it and it is not shown as its own row, so it is worth knowing it is there: on the defaults that is 33,854 dollars quietly removed before the net proceeds figure you see.
Is "total equity gain" my actual profit?
No, and this is the most important caveat on the page. It subtracts only your deposit — it ignores the 120 mortgage payments you made over those ten years, roughly 242,714 dollars on the defaults. Read it as equity built, not as investment return.
So did I make money or not?
On the defaults, cash out of 259,102 against cash in of 322,714 — deposit plus payments — is about 63,600 dollars behind in pure cash terms. That is not the whole story, because those payments replaced rent you would have paid anyway. Use the rent vs buy calculator for the fair comparison.
What mortgage term does it assume?
A 30-year term, hardcoded, with no input to change it. The holding period only decides how far into that 30-year schedule you have got when you sell, so at 10 years you are 120 payments into 360. A 15-year mortgage would leave far less outstanding and is not modelled.
Can I model a falling market?
Yes, and it is worth doing. The appreciation field accepts negative values down to minus 10 percent a year. Set it to zero to see what happens with no growth at all, which is the scenario that reveals how much of a projected gain depends on the market rather than on the property.
Does it account for rental income?
No. This models buying, holding and selling a property, not letting it out. For rental yield, cap rate, monthly cash flow and cash-on-cash return, use the rental property calculator instead, which is built around income rather than appreciation.
What else is left out?
Closing costs when you buy, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, HOA fees, capital gains tax on the sale, and any refinancing. Those all reduce the real outcome, so treat every figure here as an optimistic upper bound rather than a forecast.