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Exploring Your Mortgage Loan Options

Those who are thinking about taking out a loan for purchasing a home might thing that there is just one type of mortgage available. After all, you generally don’t hear people talking about taking out a specific type of mortgage. Although maximum buyers do take out what is referred to as a fixed rate mortgage, the fact is that there are a number of different types of mortgages available. Knowing more about these types of mortgages and their positives and negatives is a must when it comes to selecting the type of loan that is right for you. Here are details of a few of the other types of mortgage loans that are available.

Also referred to as simply Alt-A loans, liar loans or NINJA (No Income, No Job and No Assets) loans, these loans are given out without requiring the buyer to meet many requirements. These loans are quite lucrative for mortgage brokers because of their extremely high fees and interest rates. At the same time, these are very risky loans to make since the borrower does not have to provide any proof that he or she can actually repay the loan. These loans are not ideal for you because of their high fees and interest rates that are associated with it.

When opting in for a balloon loan, you only pay the interest fees for the first 5 to 10 years. After this period of time is over, you have to pay off the loan balance in one lump sum. This type of loan is mainly intended for those who are not planning to reside in the home for very long, as the intention is to sell the home before the lump sum comes due so the borrower has the money needed to pay the loan off. Obviously, the borrower will not build equity with this type of loan unless home prices increase significantly in the area after making the purchase. A person who takes out a balloon loan can be in a very difficult situation if the value of the home goes down when it is time to sell despite the fact that this type of loan may sound pretty nice because of the low monthly payments.

There is yet another option whereby one takes out a loan that covers 80% of the purchase value of the home as well as another loan that covers the other 20%. The smaller loan is then used as the down payment, which means you are actually borrowing the full amount of the loan. Resultantly, you may actually find yourself owing more on the home than it is worth if the value of the home drops.

An Adjustable Rate Mortgage, or ARM loan, is loan with a variable interest rate that changes according to current interest rates. This can translate into a substantial savings for borrowers when compared to those with fixed rate loans when interest rates are down,. Borrowers with an ARM loan may face a significant increase in their monthly payments that may be difficult to pay when the interest rates go up.

These are some of the options available to you. While there are some potential benefits associated with these types of loans, they all come with risks as well. People choose to go with the traditional fixed rate mortgage in order to avoid these risks and it is not tough to fathom why.