You open your mortgage documents and you see this big amount of money owed under “PITI”. But you have no clue as to what is the right PITI definition. Don’t worry; we got you!
PITI is not someone with an accent trying to say “pitty”. The correct PITI definition is of an acronym to the primary elements of many monthly mortgage payments:
- P for Principal
- I for Interest
- T for Taxes
- I for Insurance
So, Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance - or PITI – are actually the main components of what you will pay back to the lender monthly once you get a mortgage. However, not all mortgages include taxes and insurance in the payments. That doesn’t mean they will charge you a “PI”; they’ll probably just single out principal and interest.
But saying that PITI is just an aggregation to make the understanding of borrower’s expenses is not the most thorough PITI definition. The PITI assembling is as important for the lender itself, so it can determine the affordability of an individual mortgage and approve it or decline it. The lender calculates one’s PITI to determine the borrower’s risk, just like the borrower does to determine if his pockets are big enough to purchase that home.
Check our Real Estate Questions page; maybe someone else had the same doubts you have and we answered it already!
Popular Real Estate Terms
Legal action by an owner of property to oust or exclude an individual or business form using the property. ...
An affiliate of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, engaged in educational programs and publications for its members. Its publications include Real Estate Perspectives and Real ...
A closed-end mortgage is a mortgage in which the collateralized property cannot be used as security for another loan. See also open-end mortgage for a better understanding of the ...
While trying to determine your net income, you might come across the term revenue, sales, or gross income. So what does revenue mean? Through revenue, we understand the income generated ...
An actual location’s elevation defines the height or space below or above an established reference point. We call this point geoid, a math model of our planet’s sea level. ...
An arm’s-length transaction is a business deal, or transaction where the seller and buyer act independently of each other without influence on the other party. What sets these types ...
Legally proper instrument under seal that transfers title to real property from the seller to buyer. ...
Word, or group of words, that identifies a business or one of its products. The name is registered with U.S. Patent Office and provides legal protection for an indefinite number of renewals ...
Six-by-six mile square area of land designated by the intersection of range lines and township lines in the rectangular survey system. ...

Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.