Mortgage Rates Advantages
The question, "Should I get a fixed rate or an ARM?" has puzzled every home buyer who has shopped for a loan.
The ARM, of course, is an adjustable-rate mortgage whose interest rate can go up or down. By contrast, a fixed-rate loan locks in your rate for the life of your loan -- there's no need to guess as to where the rate will be next year or in 15 or 30 years.
At first glance, an ARM looks like a heckuva good deal next to a fixed rate. The average ARM rate nationwide is usually less than the average fixed-rate. So far that looks like a no-brainer, right?
The gamble
But there's a gamble involved, and ARM buyers can get burned as a result. With an ARM, your payments are lower for the first three or four years, and will stay low -- provided interest rates in general don't skyrocket. If they do, the lender typically will adjust your ARM rate upward by a maximum of 2 percentage points a year, and a max of 6 percent over the entire loan period.
An ARM that starts out at, say, 5.75 percent can increase to 7.75 percent in the second year, to 9.75 percent in the third year, and to 11.75 percent in the fourth year. Over that period your monthly payment would shoot up from $581 to $1,000.
On the other hand, when most interest rates are in a decline, such as during a recession, that tends to keep ARM rates low.