Cash needed is the smallest down payment that lands this house at or
under your target monthly payment — all in: principal, interest,
property tax, insurance, PMI when you are under 20% down, and any
Mello-Roos. Payment then is what you would actually pay at that cash.
It can land below target: PMI switches on under 20% down, so the payment
jumps, and sometimes 20% down is simply the cheapest option that fits.
Mello-Roos is a guess. Realtor.com does not publish tax history for
Elk Grove, so this flags any home built 2000 or later — the era
of the subdivisions annexed into the city's community facilities districts
— and prices in $200/mo. Verify a specific address with the
city's CFD lookup
before you rely on it.
Photos are ten shots sampled across the whole listing, not the first
ten — agents put the backyard last, so the opening run is all kitchens.
Scroll each strip sideways. Only homes within your down payment get photos.
Yard only counts keywords in the listing text. A 0 means the
description did not mention a yard, not that the yard is bad. Always look at
the photos. Property tax assumes reassessment at list price, which is how
Prop 13 works when a home changes hands.