Mortgage Rates and Calculators

My wife and I have been trying to pull the trigger on purchase of a second home for quite some time. Here in California, the real estate market is hitting a relative low, and it might be a good time to buy. So my wife is out looking every day.

Meanwhile, I'm at the office staring at Mortgage Rates and, especially, Mortgage Calculators. I am fascinated by the idea that the real cost of a mortgage is given by the interest rate minus the rate of price appreciation over the life of the loan. Therefore, for example, the cost of a 7% loan in an area with 6% annual price appreciation is only 1%. I can use a mortgage calculator to figure out the real impact of that 1% cost on our cash flow.

What can I say? I'm a numbers guy, while my wife shoots from the hip.

Link: Mortgage Rates