October 19th, 2012 10:04 AM by Nathan Rufty
Buying a home is usually a big step in one’s life. It comes with a lot of expectations and financial responsibility. nevertheless, it is the safest way to invest as your family will have a shelter to come home to without any worries.
There is usually a difficulty when it comes to raising the required down payment. The important thing here is knowing that if you put down a larger down payment, you are likely to pay lower payments. This is opposed to less down payment which means you will pay higher payments in instalments. Larger down payment also reduces interest amount charged on the loan. This is one aspect that many homebuyers never understand when taking up a mortgage. It is very important to know the right choice to make if you want your financial burden to be lessened.
One of the most significant things when taking up mortgage is knowing more about the mortgage and its interest rate. This will in turn inform you accordingly on how your repayment plan will be affected. This should be done before accepting the loan. Below are the things you need to know about a mortgage.
Interest rates charged
Profit is made through the interest that is charged from the borrower on their loans. The bottom-line interest rates that can be charged by an industry are preset by the federal government. However, there is so much that the lender can use when individually charging the borrower. One thing to know is that the rates affects directly your loan monthly repayment. In a mortgage there is the fixed interest rate and the adjustable interest rate. In fixed interest rates there is no change in interest; it is static throughout the loan life. On the other hand, the adjustable interest rate remains low for a predetermined periods after which it start going up. Choose a good loan so as to not suffer.
Fluctuations
National interest rates on a mortgage change with time. This means you should study the interest rate before making that decision. Make you move when the interest rates are low and if you are in fixed interest rate, you will enjoy lower payments whether the interest rates climb afterwards. Some of the factors affecting this are federal funds, stock market and the price of US bonds and treasuries.
Paying the interest
Most of the early payments that are made in your early years are interests. Much of that is not really applied to your principal loan. This is a choice made by lenders on the foundation that majority of the buyers do not actually stay in one home throughout their loan life. Consequently, the bank profits a lot from this kind of interest off the loan. More so it provides a good incentive fro homebuyers to stay put in their homes for some few years instead of flipping quickly. This also enables them to build equity which is very important.