Friday, July 13, 2007

Fixed Rate Mortgages: How to Buy Peace of Mind

Your home is the most important purchase you'll ever make it's worth it to shop around for the best home loan for you. There are many different kinds of home loans available, from government loans to variable interest rate loans, from equity lines of credit to fixed rate mortgages. How do you decide?

Before making a decision you need to shop and compare mortgage products and lenders and find what's right for you. And if you're looking for some peace of mind during the process, you might want to consider a fixed rate mortgage.

Fixed Rate Mortgages

Fixed rate mortgages are home loans that generally have repayment terms of 15, 20 or 30 years. During the life of the loan the interest rate and the monthly payments remain the same.

Fixed rate mortgages are a good choice if you want the peace of mind of knowing what your mortgage payment is going to be each month. While the initial rate may be higher than the initial rate of some other mortgage products, there are a number of benefits to this type of home loan.

A fixed rate mortgage is a good choice if

  • » you intend to remain in the house for a long period of time;
  • » you have a fixed income; or
  • » you simply prefer your payments to remain the same.

Another benefit of the fixed rate mortgage: when interest rates are low, you can lock in the price and keep that rate for the life of the loan. If interest rates fall after you've already got the loan, you won't benefit from the rate reduction because your payments won't vary but you still have the option to refinance your fixed rate mortgage for the new, lower rates.

Shop and compare for your home loan and gather all the information you can, then decide if a fixed rate mortgage will allow you the peace of mind to sleep comfortably in your new home.

About the Author

Emily Kerr is a freelance writer with over 350 articles in print. She writes about topics from home construction to home loans, technology to education, people to plants to pets and everything in between.