It is wise to avoid agreements that appear too good to be true

Posted by Rem on November 28th, 2008 filed in Mortgage

For many people, whether first time buyers or not, the prime thought when looking at a fixed rate mortgage is the monthly repayment cost. A large number of couples these days have decided to wait and are buying homes later but they also wish to pay off their mortgage earlier. Although before signing any documentation, there is a great deal to consider.

Over the course of the mortgage, it’s fundamental to remember to make sure the rate of interest doesn’t change. It is always wise to avoid arrangements that seem to too good to be true because they invariably are. The interest rate remains the same for long term fixed rate mortgages over the life of the loan.

Both my wife and I decided to research fixed rate mortgages when we began looking at homes for sale. Although it was important for us to pay off our loan as soon as we could, we didn’t need high, unrealistic monthly payments which we would have a problem sustaining.

In addition to considering loans for a long term, fifteen year fixed mortgage rate we also looked into loans that spanned 30 years as well. The problem was that we weren’t very happy about having a mortgage still running close to when we both retired and hoped that a fifteen year fixed mortgage rate would still be accessible to us. We felt there was lots of insistence to have the house settled as soon as practicable and for the most part we agreed with this.

My wife’s donation to the monthly finances would in all likelihood be unreliable since she preferred to raise our child at home. The trouble we could see was the raised financial commitment with a higher monthly repayment if we had chosen for the shorter 15 year fixed rate mortgage. For us it just wasn’t practicable as we would just be in over our heads and in all likelihood be worrying about money every month.

As such the 30 year fixed mortgage rate brought the monthly repayments down quite a bit. Fortunately, we are also able make supplemental repayments throughout the year to make the principal shrink faster. Just by making a handful of extra repayments throughout a twelve month period you can knock years off of your loan period. This is well worth the effort in the long run but it does require some discipline. Taking our current needs and fiscal abilities into account was more serious than our desire for a shorter term fifteen year fixed mortgage rate program. Altogether though, things worked out very well for us and we’re pleased we made the decision we did.