Monday, February 2, 2009

Commonly Used Types of Mortgage Loans

By Trinity Clawson

Taking out a mortgage loan is typically the largest amount of money any one person will borrow in their entire life. Buying a home is an investment. You want to make sure that you are making a smart investment. There are a lot of mortgage options, some more common than others. If you plan to buy a home, you will want to know about the most common types of mortgage loans available.

The fixed rate mortgage loan is perhaps the most well known mortgage option. When interest rates are low, it is a good idea to get a fixed rate mortgage and lock in the interest rate. Whatever interest rate you get with your mortgage will stay with you unless you refinance the house. The amortization schedule with a fixed rate mortgage will stay the same throughout the term of the loan.

Fixed rate mortgage loans have different options for length of the loan. There are differing opinions on what is the best length of term for a mortgage. It really depends on what your objective is.

If you hope to pay off your home as soon as possible, then getting a loan with as short of a term as possible might be wise. The shorter the term, the less interest you will pay on the loan over time. You can get a fixed rate mortgage with a term as short as ten years. In some cases, you can get a term as long as fifty years. The most common length of term is a thirty year term.

When the interest rate adjusts, your monthly mortgage payment will either go up or down depending on whether the interest rate increased or decreased. ARMs can be tricky since you can't really plan on what your monthly payments will be exactly. You want to make sure you will still be able to afford your mortgage, even if the interest rates increase so that you don't lose your house. Another type of mortgage that has become more common over the past five years or so is the interest only loan. With this type of mortgage, the monthly payments are usually a lot lower than with other types of mortgages, but you are only paying on the interest of the loan and not the principal.

When interest rates change, your interest rate on your mortgage will adjust and you will either have increased or decreased monthly mortgage payments. This might sound okay to some people, but realize that when the economy is struggling like it is now, mortgage payments can more than double for some people. Make sure that if this were to happen you wouldn't end up losing your home for defaulting on the loan.

There are many more types of mortgages to choose from. But the most common mortgages today are the fixed rate mortgage, the adjustable rate mortgage, and the interest only mortgage. One of them might be right for you.

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