Free tool
Compare conventional, FHA, VA, USDA and WHEDA on the same house. Then switch on the moves that actually change the math — extra principal, biweekly payments, a recast, PMI dropping off — and watch what each one is worth.
Loan programs
The program you choose changes the down payment, the mortgage insurance, and how long that insurance sticks around. Same house, five very different payments.
The default. Three percent down is the floor, and private mortgage insurance is priced off your loan-to-value and your credit. The advantage is that PMI is temporary — request removal at 80% of the original value, automatic at 78% — so a low down payment today is not a permanent cost. Put 20% down and there is no mortgage insurance at all.
Built for buyers with thinner credit or less cash: 3.5% down. FHA charges 1.75% upfront, usually rolled into the loan, plus an annual premium built into the payment. Put 10% or more down and it ends after 11 years; under 10% it stays for the life of the loan. The usual exit is a refinance to conventional once you have 20% equity.
For eligible veterans, active duty, and some surviving spouses. Zero down, no monthly mortgage insurance ever, and typically the best rates on the board. In place of MI there is a one-time funding fee — 2.15% with nothing down on a first use, less if you put money down — that most borrowers finance. Veterans receiving VA disability compensation are exempt.
Zero down for homes in USDA-eligible areas with household income under the area limit, roughly 115% of area median. A 1% guarantee fee is financed into the loan and a 0.35% annual fee is built into the payment for the life of the loan — cheaper than FHA's, but it never drops off. Thirty-year fixed only. More of Wisconsin qualifies than people expect.
Wisconsin's housing authority. A 30-year conventional first mortgage with income limits, a 620 minimum score, 3% down, and — if your household is at or below 80% of area median income — noticeably cheaper mortgage insurance. Pair it with Easy Close down payment assistance (up to 6% of the price, repaid as a 10-year second mortgage).
It is rarely obvious from a calculator. Credit, cash on hand, the property itself, and how competitive your offer needs to be all move the answer. Run all five here to see the shape of it, then send me the scenario and I will price the two or three that actually fit your file.
What the options mean
Most buyers only ever see the first number. These are the levers that are still available to you years down the road.
Send more than you owe each month and the extra goes straight at the balance — skipping every dollar of interest that balance would have earned for the rest of the loan. Your payment never changes; the loan just ends early. On a typical 30-year loan, an extra $200 a month is worth years and six figures of interest.
Pay half your payment every two weeks and you make 26 half-payments a year — 13 monthly payments instead of 12. The extra one is all principal. It usually cuts four to six years off a 30-year loan. You do not need to pay a service to set this up: divide your payment by twelve and add it yourself.
Come into money — a bonus, an inheritance, proceeds from your old house — and you can put it against principal and ask the servicer to re-amortize. Same rate, same payoff date, permanently lower payment. It is the quiet alternative to refinancing when your rate is already good. Minimums and a small fee apply.
Mortgage insurance on a conventional loan is temporary. At 80% of the original value you can request removal; at 78% the servicer must cancel it. If your home has appreciated, a new appraisal can get you there sooner. That is real money back in your budget every month — and a reason not to fear a low down payment.
Year by year, what you actually paid and what you still owe. Early on, most of your payment is interest — which is exactly why extra principal in the first decade is worth so much more than the same dollars later.
The balance curve, baseline against your scenario. It is the clearest way to see what a small monthly change compounds into over thirty years.
Get a real number
Send me the scenario you just built and I'll come back with real rates, real costs, and the program that actually fits how you're buying — usually the same business day.