Considering whether you need 30 or 15 year fixed mortgage rates is important for people looking to buy a home and concerned about their monthly payments. Many people wait until they are older before taking on the responsibility of a mortgage so an early payment of this large debt is an important issue to think about. But, before you commit yourself and sign any documents, there are points you need to think about. One important point is to ensure that the interest rate does not change during the life of the loan.
If you are offered a deal that appears to be too good to be true than it probably is. Interest rates remain the same throughout the life of the loan for 15 year fixed rate mortgages. This is of great benefit for anyone that does not like surprises. 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 did not want high, unrealistic monthly payments which we would have trouble maintaining. As well as thinking about loans of 15 years, we also considered fixed rate mortgages that lasted 30 years as well. Because we did not want to have a mortgage close to retirement, we hoped we would be able to afford a shorter 15 year fixed rate mortgage. Too much pressure was placed on the early repayment of the mortgage loan.
Eventually we decided on a 30 year loan after looking at all the other possibilities. Reaching the decision we did was the only one that made sense. It was easier reaching this conclusion when I learnt my wife was expecting a baby. Her regular monthly income would become unreliable because she wanted to be at home raising our child. The downside to the 15 year fixed mortgage rate was the higher monthly repayment. We just decided we would probably get into trouble if we took this route. The monthly payments on a 30 year loan were quite a bit lower.
Being able to make additional lump sum payments during the year means the outstanding loan reduces faster. Those few extra payments also help reduce the number of years you have to pay the loan over. This is well worth it in the long term but it does require some discipline. Our desire for a 15 year fixed rate mortgage was second place to our more immediate needs. Anyway, everything worked out fine despite our hesitancy.
