his is the common acronym for most people's housing expense (add on Home Owner's Association dues if you're buying a condo or PUD). It stands for:

• Principal of your mortgage
• Interest of your mortgage
• Taxes on the property
• Insurance for your homeowner's policy
  

Principal and interest
If you have a fixed rate mortgage, you can calculate the P (principal) and I (interest) amounts of your monthly payment from now until the end of the loan.

If you have an adjustable rate, you can use the lifetime interest rate cap or ceiling to figure your worst case payment if interest rates rocket up during the loan.

Taxes
You can get a very rough approximation assuming that the property tax rate is about 1.5% of the selling price of the house per year. For a better estimate, you should call the county Tax Collector's Office (the number for the local office will be in the phone book or online directory). They will also be able to tell you what additional fees and assessments might apply.

Insurance
You can expect to pay a minimum of $40/month for hazard insurance on a house up to $100,000 in value. This is for the lowest common denominator insurance, it doesn't cover your personal property, or theft, vandalism or liability. For estimating purposes, you can use a simple calculation of the selling price times 0.015.