Alaska Home Loans - Adjustable Rate Mortgages

These loans generally begin with an interest rate that is 2-3 percent below a comparable fixed rate mortgage, and could allow you to buy a more expensive home.

Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) have become on of the most popular and effective tools for helping some prospective homebuyers achieve their dream of homeownership. Developed during a time of high interest rates that kept many people out of the housing market, the ARM offers lower initial rates by sharing the future risk of higher rates between borrower and lender.

ARMs can be an excellent choice of financing under certain conditions, such as rising income expectations, high interest rates, and short-term homeownership. But because payments and interest rates can increase, either steadily or irregularly, homebuyers considering this kind of mortgage need to have the income to keep up with all possible rate and/or payment changes.

However, the interest rate changes at specified intervals (for example, every year) depending on changing market conditions; if interest rates go up, your monthly mortgage payment will go up, too. However, if rates go down, your mortgage payment will drop also.

There are also mortgages that combine aspects of fixed and adjustable rate mortgages - starting at a low fixed-rate for seven to ten years, for example, then adjusting to market conditions. Ask your mortgage professional about these and other special kinds of mortgages that fit your specific financial situation

Alaska Home Loans - Alaska Real Estate - Site Map