The Down-Payment Budget is a free calculator that shows how many months until you can afford your first down payment. You enter what you take home each month, what you spend, and a target home price, and it turns your monthly surplus into a date. The math runs in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere unless you choose to email yourself the results.

The free down-payment budget

See how many months until your first down payment.

Free forever · No signup

Put in what you earn and spend, then a home price. This turns your monthly surplus into a real date for your first place.

I lived in a van for about a year, because that’s where my money was. Five years later I own the duplex I live in. The thing that actually got me motivated was seeing the number: how much I had left over each month, and how many months that meant until I could buy. This is that same starting tool. Change the gold boxes and read the answer.

1. Your monthly budget

Type your own numbers into the gold cells. Everything updates as you go.

Money in / month

Your take-home pay$

Partner / 2nd take-home$

Side income / gig work$

Total in$0

Money out / month

Rent / housing$

Utilities$

Groceries$

Transportation / fuel$

Insurance$

Phone / internet$

Minimum debt payments$

Everything else$

Total out$0

What you have left each month (surplus)$0

2. Your down-payment timeline

Target home price$

Down payment % %

Closing-cost buffer % %

Cash you already saved$

You’ll have your down payment in

—

Cash you need$0

Still to save$0

Saving / month$0

Change any gold cell above and this updates instantly.

Keep going

Want the plan that goes with the number?

Get the free $0-to-First-Property Roadmap and the occasional plain-English email about buying your first place from nothing. No spam.

This tool is a planning estimate, not financial advice, your real down payment, closing costs, and loan terms will vary. It assumes you keep saving your current surplus each month. The math runs in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere unless you choose to email yourself the results. VanToVault

Embed this tool on your site (free)

Put this tool on your site, free

Run a real-estate or personal-finance site? Copy the code below into an HTML block on any page. It sizes itself to fit, updates when the tool here updates, and carries a short credit link back. Terms and the other ten widgets are on the calculator embed page.^[S1]

<iframe id="vtv-dp-budget" src="https://vantovault.com/down-payment-budget/widget/" title="Van to Vault Down-Payment Budget" width="100%" height="2708" scrolling="no" loading="lazy" style="width:100%;max-width:900px;border:1px solid #e5e5e5;border-radius:10px"></iframe>
<script>window.addEventListener("message",function(e){var f=document.getElementById("vtv-dp-budget");if(f&&e.source===f.contentWindow&&e.data&&e.data.vtvCalcHeight){f.style.height=e.data.vtvCalcHeight+"px"}});</script>
<p>Powered by <a href="https://vantovault.com/down-payment-budget/">Down-Payment Budget</a> from Van to Vault</p>

Next step

That date moves if someone else covers part of the deposit.

the down payment assistance guide. What state and local programs offer across 83 metro areas, and which ones allow a two-to-four-unit building.

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Sources

[S1] Van to Vault, read 24 September 2026: “Van to Vault publishes eleven of them, free to use on any site, with no limit on how many people run them.” vantovault.com.