Choosing The Right Home Mortgage Loan
Posted on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 4:27 amWhen you are about to purchase a home, it wouldn’t be surprising to get a little puzzled at all kinds of words lenders just throw at us. Terms like balloon mortgages, adjustable rate mortgages and fixed rate have succeeded in making our lives more complicated. Actually, those are the common types of home loans so as to select the best one, we will have to define each one of them.
The first type of loan is the Fixed Rate Loan. If you are planning to buy a home and stay in it until you pay it off, then you will probably want a fixed rate home loan. With this type of loan, you will be assigned a fixed interest rate, and that rate will not change for the life of the loan. If interest rates do skyrocket, yours will remain the same. On the other hand, if they plummet, you will be paying a higher rate.
The Adjustable Rate Mortgage or ARM is the second type of loan. The interest rate with this loan type goes up and down with the market. In other words, if the interest rate is low, the rate on your home mortgage will be low, but if it’s high, your loan interest rate will then reflect it. And because the interest rate on a home mortgage loan affects the payments, you will have no idea from reporting period to reporting period what your monthly mortgage payments will be. This type of loan obviously isn’t right for everyone.
For starters, if you are purchasing a house for investment purposes and you plan to sell it quickly, you might take advantage of low interest rates by getting this type of loan, particularly if it looks as if they may go lower.
Another smart move in using an ARM is to buy a home during the time when interest rates are on the decline. You can have the ARM changed to fixed rate home mortgage loan whenever the interest rates reach the bottom.
The third type would make you pay monthly for a fixed amount of time with a fixed interest rate; this is called the balloon home mortgage loan. At the end of the payment schedule, you will owe the unpaid balance in a single lump sum. The interest rates in this type are much lower than the fixed rate and the ARM.
Just one big problem for this type of loan is the large payment due at the end. On the other hand, if you plan to hold the house for just a short period of time, the balloon home loan might just suit you well.
By understanding the various types of home loans that are available to you, you will be better prepared to make a decision on choosing a home mortgage loan that is just perfect for you and your family.
