For many home buyers, the only real decision they have to make is whether to have a 15 or 30 year fixed mortgage rate? Early completion of a mortgage is important for those of use that leave buying a home until later in life. In a situation as important as this time needs to be spent considering all the available options. It is always a good idea to confirm that the interest rate does not alter during the term of the mortgage.

It is not uncommon to see lenders offering deals that are too good to be true. For loans that have 15 year fixed mortgage rates, the same amount of interest is maintained throughout the life of the loan. This is of great benefit for anyone that does not like surprises. Both my wife and I decided to research fixed rate mortgages when we started looking at homes for sale.

Even though it was important for us to pay off our loan at the earliest possible opportunity, we didn't want high, unrealistic monthly payments which we would have trouble maintaining. Considering longer term fixed rate mortgages was one option if we could not afford a 15 year plan. We didn't really like the prospect of having a mortgage as we approached retirement so were really hoping to get one of the loans with 15 year fixed mortgage rates. We felt that there was a great deal of emphasis on paying the mortgage off early.

Taking everything into account we finally went for the easier 30 year mortgage plan instead. There were many things that lead us into making this choice. It was easier reaching this conclusion when I learnt my wife was expecting a baby. As she intended to raise our child at home we couldn't rely on her financial income to the monthly expenditure. The problem we could see was the increased financial commitment on a monthly basis if we had opted for the 15 year fixed mortgage rate. We just decided we would probably get into trouble if we took this route. Despite the trepidation of having a longer term loan, it did reduce the repayments considerably.

If we have spare cash throughout the year then we can use it to reduce the capital sum. If you make a handful of extra payments throughout a twelve month period you can knock years off of your loan. It may be easier said than done, but this approach does pay off eventually. Although we would have much preferred a loan with a 15 year fixed mortgage rate we had to take our needs and abilities into consideration. Anyway, everything worked out fine despite our hesitancy.