It is quite normal for potential home buyers to look into 30 year or 15 year fixed mortgage rates when considering their monthly repayments. No-one wants a mortgage hanging around their neck forever but with home buyers entering the market later, an early repayment of this loan is important. Although before signing any documents, there are many things to consider. It is important to make sure that the interest rate doesn't change over the course of the loan.

Steer clear of lenders that are offering unbelievable deals because they probably are. Loans agreed with a 15 year fixed mortgage keep the same interest rate throughout the entire life of the agreement. For many people with regular incomes, this is a definite benefit as there are no hidden charges. My wife and I had already decided to research long term fixed mortgage rates 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. It became obvious that we had to look at fixed rate mortgages over a longer period and not just 15 year plans. The problem was that we weren't very happy about having a mortgage close to when we both retired so it was our hope a 15 year fixed mortgage rate would still be available to us. It wasn't easy for us because of the stress to pay the house off early.

Taking everything into account we finally went for the easier 30 year mortgage plan instead. There were many things that factored into this decision. Discovering my wife was having a baby was the most important reason. My wife was going to raise our child from home so her addition to the monthly income would be restricted. 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. The monthly payments on a 30 year loan were quite a bit lower.

Making a few additional lump sum payments during the year helps bring down the amount owed. It is possible to take years off your loan if you can make a few extra payments during each year. Although this isn't easy to achieve, in the long term it is well worth it.

Our first choice would have been to go for the short term 15 year fixed rate mortgage solution but this did not help with our more immediate situation. In retrospect, everything worked out ok for us by going down this road.