A fixed rate home loan offers you monthly principal and interest mortgage payments that never change for the life of your loan. A Fixed rate home loan is the most stable option with very little risk. That is why it is the most popular way to finance a home today.
Fixed rate home loans are available as 30, 20, 15 and 10 year loans and they make sense if you answer yes to the following:
Plan to live in your home more than 5 years
Want the stability of a fixed monthly mortgage payment
Don’t want to risk future monthly mortgage payment increases
Some fixed rate home loans can be converted into biweekly mortgages which shorten the life of your loan. By paying your monthly mortgage payment every two weeks, you make one extra payment a year for a total of 26 payments. You pay less interest on your loan and build equity faster.
It makes sense to finance a home with a fixed rate home loan only if you plan to live in your home for 5 years or longer. That is because in the early amortization period of a fixed rate home loan, the biggest percentage of your monthly mortgage payment is applied toward interest. Only a small amount is applied toward the principal but that will gradually reverse itself as the loan ages.
