These days, there’s pretty much nothing Google can’t do. Now, the search engine giant has added a mortgage calculator to its vast arsenal of tools.
Search Engine Land reports that though Google started testing the mortgage calculator in December, it didn’t go live until this week.
Mortgage rates in 2015 are at record lows; combined with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s new 3% down payment plans, they are expected to cause a real estate boom in the United States. Mortgage interest rates have fallen steadily since early December, and now the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is a paltry 3.89%.
Though the lower down payments and dropping mortgage rates are promising for potential home buyers, finding the right mortgage is still one of the hardest parts of the process.
Google’s tool will provide users with the total mortgage cost and monthly payments after they fill out the different fields like mortgage amount, the number of years of the life of the loan, and the interest rates.
One of the difficulties of finding the right mortgage is the fact that there are so many different types that calculating which is best can get grueling. The two main types of mortgage rates are fixed and adjustable. Adjustable rates are harder to calculate, since they change over time, but users can easily change the rates in the calculator.
CNBC reports that the tool, however, does not factor in mortgage taxes or down payments.
There are other, similar tools out there, but Americans’ preference for Google in many other respects will likely make it pretty popular for people looking to buy a home.