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Many people who are looking to buy a home consider whether a 30 year or 15 year fixed mortgage rate is best for their monthly payments. 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. It may take some time to reach a decision as there are many things to contemplate. It is always a good idea to confirm that the interest rate does not alter during the term of the mortgage.

Avoid the mortgage loans offered by some lenders, those that sound unbelievable because they usually are. A fixed rate mortgage maintains a set interest rate during the period 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. My wife and I had already decided to research long term fixed mortgage rates when we started looking at homes for sale.

It was always our intention to clear our mortgage debt as early as we could but we didn’t want to over extend ourselves at the same time. When we considered fixed rate mortgages we also looked into even longer term loans that spanned 30 years as well. The 15 year fixed mortgage rate was the plan we really wanted because neither of us wanted to be still paying a mortgage when we close to retiring. There was a lot of pressure to have the house paid off as soon as possible.

After taking everything into consideration we decided on a 30 year loan instead. Reaching the decision we did was the only one that made sense. Probably the over-riding decider was the fact my wife was expecting a child. My wife decided she wanted to raise our child at home so I couldn’t be certain of her monthly financial commitment to our household expenses. Unfortunately, a higher monthly payment was the downside for loans with a 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.

If we have spare cash throughout the year then we can use it to reduce the capital sum. By doing this you can also reduce the term of the mortgage by quite a few years. Although this isn’t easy to achieve, in the long term it is well worth it. 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. As it is, things worked out very well for us by taking this route.

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