home mortgages, mortgage loans and mortgage rates for buyers.

Home Mortgage Options

With interest rates at their lowest for 40 years theres no better time to make the move from renting to owning. The most common method for financing a house purchase is a home mortgage loan. A mortgage is a loan which uses the property to guarantee repayment of the debt. If the borrower does not make regular payments the lender can take possession of the house to recover the debt. Finding the best mortgage for you involves finding a lender providing the product which best suits your circumstances, and at low mortgage rates.

In addition if a borrower already has a mortgage but is unhappy with the terms or interest rates when compared to current new mortgages, Refinancing the loan may be beneficial, see our Refinance Home page.

But which type of mortgage to choose? Commonly there are two mortgage terms available in the United States, the 15 and the 30 year mortgage. The 30 year term means you will pay lower monthly payments over a longer period, but your interest rate will be higher. This is useful for borrowers who wish to purchase a more expensive property, or for first time buyers who need to minimise their monthly payments simply to make buying affordable.

The 15 year term will require larger monthly repayments, however there are advantages to this form of mortgage. Paying a larger regular amount reduces the overall amount of interest you pay, a greater percentage of your instalments repaying the capital loan itself. With larger payments lower interest and a shorter term, the loan will be cheaper overall than borrowing the same initial amount over 30 years.

A word of caution however: committing yourself to a 15 year term is only prudent if you can be confident of making the payments. With changes in working patterns away from longer term employment to shorter term contracts more people than ever find themselves unemployed for a period, or in some way unable to meet their repayments. If you are not financially secure or feel your situation may change you may be better opting for a longer term loan then make extra payments as and when you can.