Retirement investment, Estate planning, saving for a childs education, setting up a living a trust, all of these activities many times are considered "financial planning".  There is a key component not among this list and that would be buying and financing your home!   In our world many times this is just not part of financial planning to many people view the mortgage as a necessary evil something that we have to have so we might as well get it over with apply for it, obtain it, close it and start making our payments. Many times its not thought of as being part of the financial plan.  That thinking has to change in order to make sure that your house does not own you or your mortgage does not own you! 

Buying a home is one of the IF NOT THE single biggest expenditure that you can make in your financial plan, look at the percentage allowable on the monthly budget - most experts agree keep your housing expense at or below 30% of your income, that's almost a 1/3 of your income- no other item draws such a huge number but housing. 

Since buying a home is that large of a percentage of your financial plan putting a plan together to make your mortgage work for you is essential - buying a home should fit in your overall plan we don't buy the house and then say ok lets plan with whats left over! Many have done that and we are now seeing record foreclosures happening.

Making sure you know how a mortgage works and understanding the time value of money is huge when it comes to having a mortgage. Take a look at the interest that accrues over 30 years and if your paying that it can be staggering - (typically a good rule of thumb is multiply the amount financed times 3 and you will be close for 30 years worth of monthly payments).   Prepaying or applying extra to principal is something that when you crunch the numbers gives you a rate of return and building equity faster than sticking with that minimum monthly payment!

Making the 15 year payment on a 30 year loan is an option and your banker can calculate that out for you or you can google amortization schedules and find an online caculator to crunch the numbers as well.

Refinancing is a valuable option that may save you thousands in the long run - especially with rates low however if you are looking to sell the property in a short time my advice would be not to spend the cost on the refinance since it can sometime take a few months to years to make up that cost to refi.

Above all obtaining a mortgage is a financial transaction that makes an impact on the ability to effect every other financial goal that my clients have - I want to make sure that we can put the best possible mortgage together so that my client is successful at meeting their financial goals because helping your client navigate a great financial plan is the beginning of a great relationship.