It is quite normal for potential home buyers to look into 30 year or 15 year fixed mortgage rates when considering their monthly repayments. Of course the goal for most people with a mortgage is to pay it off early and save themselves a great deal of money in interest repayments. Decisions of this nature need careful consideration before any commitment is made. It is important to make sure that the interest rate does not change over the course of the loan.
It is always wise to avoid agreements that do not appear to have any negative aspects because they invariably have but are hidden. 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. When we were looking to buy a home, my wife and I decided to go for a loan with a 15 year fixed mortgage rate.
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. Considering longer term fixed rate mortgages was one option if we could not afford a 15 year plan. We did not really like the prospect of having a mortgage as we approached retirement so were really hoping to get one of the loans with 15 year fixed mortgage rates. There was a lot of pressure to have the house paid off as soon as possible.
After careful consideration we decided to take the longer term 30 year repayment option instead of the 15 year plan. There were many things that lead us into making this choice.Probably the over-riding decider was the fact my wife was expecting a child. Her regular monthly income would become unreliable because she wanted to be at home raising our child. Unfortunately, a higher monthly payment was the downside for loans with a 15 year fixed mortgage rate. For us it just was not feasible as we would just be in over our heads. 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. My making just a few of these payments each year we discovered that a number of years could be taken off the mortgage term. This is well worth it in the long term but it does require some discipline. Our first choice would have been to go for the short term 15 year fixed rate mortgage solution but this did not help with our more immediate situation. Despite all our worries, things turned out well for us and we do not regret the decision.