Written by: Mark Barnes

When you purchased your home, you most likely got a fixed interest rate mortgage with a 15 or 30 year term. These are the most popular mortgages in the industry. Even in the summer of 2004, when the interest-only or simple interest mortgage loans became popular, the average American stuck to the fixed rate. You see, the fixed rate offers security to conservative people, and the average American home buyer and home owner is a very conservative person.Today, it's time to ignore that conservative nature and throw out that fixed rate mortgage. If you have a home, no matter when you purchased or refinanced your mortgage, you now need to refinance your fixed interest rate mortgage to an adjustable rate mortgage.Now, before you begin to panic and start calling me all kinds of unsavory names, read on, and you'll see why an ARM is actually a cash goldmine, and you need to start panning for this gold immediately.When I was originating loans fulltime, I could barely get the word ARM out of my mouth, before the customer would say, “Oh no! I don’t want an adjustable mortgage. I’ve heard how the rates change and your payment skyrockets, and some people actually lose their homes. No, no, I don’t want my rate to change.” Of course, once I illustrated the thousands of dollars they would save in just a few years and quashed all of those myths about loan payments “blowing up,” most of them decided the ARM was not the “devil loan” it’s made out to be.But why risk an adjustment of your rate, you may ask, when you can have it fixed for the life of the loan? The answer is twofold and quite simple. The first part is the most important, and that is the average American either sells or refinances his or her home in four to seven years. So, if the chances are that you’ll sell or refinance in five years, why fix your rate for 30 years at a higher interest than you can get on an ARM?The second reason to get an Adjustable Rate Mortgage is because the interest rates are so much lower than fixed rates. And since these great rates are fixed for a particular period, five years on a 5-year ARM and three years on a 3-year ARM, there really is no risk, at all. Again, in most adjustable rate mortgage programs, the interest rate does not adjust monthly or yearly
(although programs with these types of adjustment periods do exist at much lower rates).For example, as of publication of this article in 2004, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage was going for around 5.75%, and a 5-year Adjustable Rate Mortgage was going for about 4%. Suppose you’re financing $100,000. The 30-year fixed rate of 5.75% would give you a monthly payment of $583.57 (not including your taxes and insurance, which vary from state to state and county to county). The same $100,000 financed at 4.0% interest yields a monthly payment of $477.   read more »

Turn That Fixed Rate Mortgage Into A Goldmine

Doing a California Refinance Online

Top 5 Credit Misconceptions

Purchasing Property With No Money Down My Personal Experience

Good Credit is King When Qualifying for Mortgage Programs

Bankers Dont Want You to Know That You Pay for Your No Cost Home Loan Forever

California Refinance Refinancing in California

The Top 5 Things You Must Know Before Applying for a Mortgage

Option ARM Mortgage Loan Is This Really for You

Are Interest Rates Up Up and Away

6 Things to Consider Before Refinancing

5 Tips for Savvy Use of Your Home Equity Line of Credit

Home Mortgage Refinancing Whats in Your Contract

Follow A Few Simple Steps To Make Shopping For Your New Home Loan A Little Easier