if you just bought a house or are planning to

If you don't mind saying I was curious what kind of mortgage you took out. i have no clue what would be the best thing for us. we are trying to figure out how to make our payments the cheapest they can be.

Re: if you just bought a house or are planning to

Have you spoken to a broker? They will give you a bunch of different options. I hate to state the obvious, but the best way to keep your payments down is to put a large amount down. Speak to a broker (if you haven't already). They will be able to run your credit, check your debt to income ratio, and give you the best idea.

Re: if you just bought a house or are planning to

i agree. a lot of it depends on how long you plan on living in the house, how much you can put down, etc. good luck!

Re: if you just bought a house or are planning to

There are a lot of different options... most take 30 yrs,.. you can also do interest only for a few yrs... fixed for 5 yrs..etc... Unless you have a ton of money to put down.. we found that every $10k you put down the monthly payment only went down about $50. So I'd rather save that $10k and do some work on the house.. haha. We haven't bought anything yet but have been looking into it. I don't know much about the mortgages.. but there are so many options now. You have to shop around for the lowest interest rate too...don't just accept the first one you find.

Re: if you just bought a house or are planning to

There are so many things that go into picking a mortgage, it's a wonder anyone can with confidence. You have to decide what your risk tolerance is. If you take out an interest only mortgage which will be the cheapest payments by far, be prepared to build no equity. The equity that you will have will be pure appreciation. If the market goes up you will have some equity, if not then your only equity will be whatever your downpayment was.

If you do go interest only, get a fixed rate for at least 10 years if you can. Also get some quotes from different banks and compare the good faith estimates, closing costs, fees...etc..once you have them side by side you may be able to determine which loan is the best. Just because a payment is low and the interest rate is low does not necesssarily mean that it is the best mortgage. If the interest rate is very low you would be paying points which is a % of your mortgage and that would be included in your closing costs. If would make your closing costs go up. IMO, there are very few times when paying points makes sense.

I've done this a few times, so please let me know if you have any questions. I also have a great banker with Chase that I was able to negotiate with.

Also, you must be so crazed planning a wedding and buying a house! I wish you lots of luck and don't forget to breathe!