Thursday, January 8, 2009

Choosing a 30 or 15 Year Fixed Mortgage Rate

Mortgage Loan Video

The monthly repayments for 30 year or 15 year fixed mortgage rate are just one important consideration for many people who are looking to buy a home. Paying the mortgage off early is important for many people that buy a home later in life. Decisions of this nature need careful consideration before any commitment is made. It is important to make sure that the interest rate doesn't change over the course of the loan.

It is not uncommon to see lenders offering deals that are too good to be true. Loans agreed with a 15 year fixed mortgage keep the same interest rate throughout the entire life of the agreement. For those individuals that don't like hidden surprises, this is always a benefit. Both my wife and I decided to research fixed rate mortgages when we started looking at homes for sale.

Even though it was important for us to pay off our loan at the earliest possible opportunity, we didn't want high, unrealistic monthly payments which we would have trouble maintaining. When we considered fixed rate mortgages we also looked into even longer term loans that spanned 30 years as well. Still, having a mortgage close to retirement wasn't what we were looking for, so we decided to try for a loan with a 15 year fixed mortgage. We felt that there was a great deal of emphasis on paying the mortgage off early.

We thought about it long and hard and despite the pressure we decided to go with the 30 year loan plan. Many factors were taken into account when reaching this decision. The most important point was the fact I discovered my wife was having a baby. As she intended to raise our child at home we couldn't rely on her financial income to the monthly expenditure. The problem we could see was the increased financial commitment on a monthly basis if we had opted for the 15 year fixed mortgage rate. All things considered, we just didn't want to bite off more than we could chew. The 30 year loan repayments were considerably lower than the 15 year figures.

Making a few additional lump sum payments during the year helps bring down the amount owed. It is possible to take years off your loan if you can make a few extra payments during each year. This is well worth it in the long term but it does require some discipline. Although we would have much preferred a loan with a 15 year fixed mortgage rate we had to take our needs and abilities into consideration. Things worked out well anyway, even though we were unsure about it to start with.

 

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