With fixed rate mortgage, considering whether you need a 30 or 15 year, fixed mortgage rate is important for people looking to buy a home and concerned about their monthly payments. Buying a home later in life means that many people want to have the mortgage paid off early. In a situation as important as this, time needs to be spent considering all the available options. Probably the most important point is a guarantee of a constant interest rate for the duration 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. A 15 year fixed rate mortgage means the interest rate remains stable for the life of the loan. If you are someone that wants a loan with a regular fixed repayment and no additional charges then this is the main benefit with this type of agreement. When my wife and I were looking at homes for sale we decided to check out the various loans available with 15 year fixed mortgage rates.

Having a realistic, sustainable monthly payment on our mortgage was important even though we wanted to pay off our debt as soon as possible. This meant we had to consider 30 year fixed rate mortgage plans as well as those of 15 years. Still, having a mortgage close to retirement was not what we were looking for, so we decided to try for a loan with a 15 year fixed mortgage. We were worried about the emphasis placed on early completion of the mortgage.

After taking everything into consideration we decided on a 30 year loan instead. 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. My wife decided she wanted to raise our child at home so I could not be certain of her monthly financial commitment to our household expenses.

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. We just simply did not want to get in over our heads with a higher monthly payment. 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. It was hard going against our preference for a shorter term, 15 year fixed rate mortgage, but we had to think about more immediate needs and abilities. All things considered, it all worked out for the best in the end.