Buy a House Project
Get the full classroom-ready project
Buy a House Project
Everything on this site is the free companion to the complete printable and digital project for middle & high school.
- ✓Real-world activities with answer keys
- ✓Mortgages, closing costs, equity & choosing a location
- ✓Editable PowerPoint & Google Slides
- ✓Full project or single lessons
Opens in a new tab · Mister G's Teacher Shop
Free companion site
Buy a House Project
This is the free companion site for the Buy a House Project. Every video your packet asks you to watch is here, along with the calculators you will need for the mortgage activities.
Work through the sections in order, or jump to the one your teacher assigned. Everything here is free to use with your students.
4 videos
Mortgage calculators
Rent vs. buy tool
Free to use
01Watch
Owning vs. Renting a Home
Before you decide what house to buy, you have to decide whether buying is the right move at all. Renting is not throwing money away, and owning is not automatically the smarter choice. It depends on how long you plan to stay, what you can put down, and what the same money could do somewhere else.
Packet: Renting vs Owning · Pros and Cons
02Explore
Rent vs. Buy: Two Friends
Jordan buys a $300,000 house. Taylor rents a similar one and invests the money Jordan put into the house. Both spend the same amount every month. Slide the years to see who walks away with more, and when that changes.
Packet: Rent vs. Buy: Two Friends
Rent vs. Buy: Two Friends
Starts with the same numbers as your packet. Change them and watch the answer move.
5 years
%
%
%
%
Jordan (buys)Taylor (rents and invests)
03Calculate
How Much House Can I Afford?
A common guideline is the 28/36 Rule: keep your housing payment around 28% or less of your gross monthly income, and all of your debt payments around 36% or less. Actual lender limits vary. This calculator walks through the same Lines A through J as your packet, so you can check every step.
Packet: How Much House Can I Afford? · Career Cards
How Much House Can I Afford?
Pick your Career Card to fill in the numbers, then check your packet line by line.
$
$
$
$
%
Most expensive home (Line J)-
Housing limit (Line E)-
Limit set by-
| Line | What you are finding | How | Amount |
|---|
04Watch
Learn About Mortgage Basics
A mortgage is the loan that makes buying a house possible, and it has more moving parts than most first-time buyers expect. This video covers the vocabulary the rest of the project depends on: principal, interest, collateral, amortization, and points.
Packet: Mortgage Basics Video
05Watch
What Are Mortgages?
A second look at mortgages through Mark and Lisa, a couple who find the perfect home with a price tag bigger than their savings. Hearing the same idea from a different direction is how it sticks.
Packet: What Are Mortgages? Video
Heads up: this video shows a Canadian-style mortgage, where the rate is locked for a few years at a time. In the United States, most mortgages lock the rate for the whole 15 or 30 years.
06Watch
What Is Escrow?
Part of your monthly payment goes into an account you do not control. That account, called escrow, pays your property taxes and homeowners insurance for you. This short clip explains why lenders set it up and why your payment can change even with a fixed rate.
Packet: What’s in a Mortgage Payment? · Closing on a House
07Calculate
Mortgage Payment Calculator
Four numbers set your monthly payment: the price of the home, your down payment, the interest rate, and the length of the loan. Change one at a time and watch what happens to the monthly payment and the total interest.
Packet: Use a Mortgage Calculator
Mortgage Payment Calculator
What will your monthly payment be? Answers are rounded to the nearest dollar.
$
$
%
Monthly principal & interest-
Total interest-
This is principal and interest only. Property taxes, insurance, and mortgage insurance come on top. See The Real Monthly Cost below.
08Calculate
15-Year vs. 30-Year Calculator
The 15-year loan costs more every month but far less overall. Enter the price, the down payment, and a rate for each loan, then compare the two columns side by side.
Packet: 15-Year vs. 30-Year Mortgage
15-Year vs. 30-Year Calculator
The 15-year rate is usually lower, because the lender gets its money back sooner.
$
$
%
%
| 15-Year | 30-Year | Difference |
|---|
09Explore
Where Does My Payment Go?
Every mortgage payment is the same amount, but what it pays for changes. Early on, most of it is interest. Use the extra-payment slider to see how paying a little more each month shortens the loan and cuts the interest.
Packet: Where Does My Payment Go?
Where Does My Payment Go?
Each bar is one year of payments. See how the interest part shrinks as the loan is paid down.
$
%
$0
Monthly payment-
Total interest-
Paid off in-
InterestPrincipal
| Payment | To interest | To principal | Balance after |
|---|
10Calculate
Credit Score Calculator
Two people can buy the same house on the same day and pay very different amounts for it. The difference is the credit score. Pick two score ranges to compare what a higher score is worth over the life of a loan.
Packet: Importance of Credit Score on a Mortgage
Credit Score Calculator
30-year fixed loan. These are the rates your packet uses, so your answers always match.
$
| Credit score | Interest rate | Monthly principal & interest | Total interest |
|---|
Difference per month-
Difference over 30 years-
11Calculate
Saving for a Down Payment
You do not always need 20% down, but a smaller down payment has a price. Try each option to see how long it takes to save and how it changes your loan.
Packet: Saving for a Down Payment
Saving for a Down Payment
How long until you have enough, and what does each choice cost you every month?
$
$
$
%
Down payment goal-
Time to save-
Loan amount-
Principal & interest-
12Calculate
The Real Monthly Cost
A listing might say “only $1,707 a month,” but that is just principal and interest. Add taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance, HOA dues, repairs, and utilities to see what living in the home really costs, and how much of it the lender counts.
Packet: The Real Monthly Cost · Capstone Part 2
The Real Monthly Cost
Starts with 418 Cedar Lane from your packet. For the capstone, enter your own listing.
$
$
%
$
%
$
$
%
$
| Cost | Monthly | Lender counts it? |
|---|
Advertised payment-
Real monthly cost-
Gross monthly income needed (28% of lender's payment)-
For the capstone: first set aside closing costs (list price × 0.03) from your home-buying savings, and enter only what is left as your down payment. For mortgage insurance, under 20% down use loan ÷ 100,000 × 42; at 20% down or more, enter 0.
13Watch
What Is Home Equity?
Equity is the part of the house you actually own: what it is worth minus what you still owe. It grows two ways at once, as payments shrink the loan and as the home gains value. It is also not guaranteed, because values can fall.
Packet: Building Equity
14Research
Capstone: Find Your Home
Time to shop for real. Search for two homes listed at or below your most expensive home: one near you and one in a city where you would like to live someday. Record the price, the size, the property taxes from the listing's tax history, and any HOA dues.
Packet: Capstone: Buy Your First Home, Parts 1 and 2
Zillow
The largest listing site. Open a home, then scroll to Price and tax history.
Opens in a new tab
Realtor.com
Listings from the multiple listing service. Look for Property history and HOA fees.
Opens in a new tab
Browse only. You do not need an account for this project. Do not sign up, do not click “Contact agent” or “Request a tour,” and never enter your name, phone number, or email on a real estate site.
15Explore
Additional Resources
Two extras for students who want to go further: today's real mortgage rates, and the most detailed rent-versus-buy calculator available anywhere.
Packet: Optional extensions
Today's Mortgage Rates
Freddie Mac publishes the national average rate every Thursday. Your packet uses clean teaching rates so answers always match. Compare them to today's.
Opens in a new tab · Freddie Mac
Rent vs. Buy Calculator
The New York Times version adds more detail than Two Friends: maintenance, taxes, and what your down payment could earn. Change how long you stay and watch the answer flip.
Opens in a new tab · May ask you to sign in after a few uses