Consumers typically look at one mortgage type and then the next, picking the best option based mostly on affordability.

But getting the best mortgage deal is about more than payment size.

The Federal Reserve Board has created an online “Mortgage Comparison Calculator” that allows consumers to compare monthly mortgage payments and the amount of equity they build for up to six types of fixed and adjustable-rate mortgages.

The calculator is accessible at www.federalreserve.gov/apps/mortcalc.

It allows homebuyers to compare seven types of adjustables and several styles of fixed-rate loans to determine which deal is best.

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When Paul Zuch’s Capital Improvements construction company bought a house on Woodland Drive in Preston Hollow and demolished it down to the shell, the neighbors were worried that Mr. Zuch planned to build a McMansion on the 70-by-140-foot lot.Neighbors walking by would stop and ask what his plans were for the house, he says.

Their concern was justified. Along Woodland and other streets north of Northwest Highway, growing numbers of two- and three-story homes have replaced smaller homes built there in the 1950s.