If you have a loan on your Lake Forest Park home you will be paying interest monthly on the whole balance that is still owing. At the beginning almost all of your payment will be put towards paying off the interest. As the years go by, however, less money is put towards the interest and more gets put towards the principal.
If you have a 30 year mortgage to pay off, for example, at a 7% rate, you will still be paying more towards the interest than the principal, even when you are halfway through the payments. When you are fifteen years into the mortgage only about 75% of your payment will apply to the interest. At this point only 1/4 of your payment is building up the equity in your Lake Forest Park home.
You will not see more than half of your payments being put towards the principal until you are in your 22nd year. That is when the equity continues to build at a rapid pace and everything gains momentum.
With this 30 year loan, you do not own half of the home until the 22nd year or so. There are a couple of ways to reduce this time, however, if you can afford them.
Extra Payments
As long as there is no clause on your mortgage for prepayment penalties, you can make extra payments when you have extra funds at hand. This will speed up the process so that your payments go towards building up equity in your home faster.
15 year mortgage
You will save an incredible amount of money on your Lake Forest Park home loan by taking out a fifteen year loan at the beginning. If there is any way to afford it, this is your best option in terms of long-term savings.
As an example, if you have a loan on your Lake Forest Park home loan at 7% for $150,000, a 15 year mortgage will save you about $117,000 dollars over a 30 year loan. This is a staggering amount of savings and makes a 15 year loan well worth your consideration when you are first looking for a mortgage.
You will have to take another look at your budget to see where you stand before making a final decision about your mortgage. If you can't afford a 15 year Lake Forest Park home loan, you'll still have the option of making extra repayments when possible with a 30 year term.
For real estate questions in the Lake Forest Park and Seattle area contact Adrian Willanger 206 909-7536
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