Financial planning is somtimes overlooked in the process of buying a home or refinancing. A typical plan is to get a home loan that extends payments as much as possible, delays the principal reduction, or uses a home like an ATM machine. Today, a practical approach is to consider a home as a long term place to live, while planning a time to pay off the mortgage.

When shopping for home loans, most people will take the path of low payment over a plan to eventually be mortgage free. The idea of owning a home free and clear of any mortgage may be a far off concept to many people, but it’s only a matter of time, 15 years, or maybe even less.

A 15 year fixed rate mortgage can provide a realistic goal of being mortgage free, while saving thousands of dollars on interest payments, instead of a 30 year mortgage. For example, on a $200,000 loan, a 15 year mortgage can save as much as $120,000 over the life of the loan when compared to a 30 year mortgage term.

There has been an ongoing debate about the pros and cons of paying off a mortgage. Behind the argument for not paying off your mortgage is the reasoning that you invest the extra money and earn a higher return, while keeping your money more liquid. That may have been a good reason in the past, but the rate of return on investing is questionable, compared to the fact that every dollar paid to reduce a mortgage balance provides a guaranteed return equal to the interest rate on the mortgage.

Another debating point about keeping a mortgage has been the tax deduction benefit. In order to get an accurate assessment of the tax benefit, compare the standard deduction allowed to itemized deductions with mortgage interest. If you paid $20,000 in loan interest for the year and received a $2,000 net tax write off, is that a good reason to prolong your mortgage?

What are the benefits of a 15 year mortgage?

• Provides a fixed term strategy to eliminate your monthly mortgage expense.
• Incorporates the retirement of your mortgage into your overall retirement plan.
• Long term investment that guarantees a rate of return by reducing debt.
• A future with less financial stress and the security of really owning your home.
• Saving a large amount of interest expense on a 15 year term instead of 30 years.

The goal of living without a mortgage payment is attainable. If you can afford a 15 year mortgage, you set a timetable to one day enjoy the benefits owning your home free and clear. You also have the option of shaving a few years off the term by paying a little extra towards the principal balance each month. By the way, 15 year mortgage rates are usually lower than 30 year rates.

Written by R.Smith: New Homes San Diego, Get a Mortgage Quote

I am not sure that there is a better business than real estate but I am also not sure if there is a tougher one in today’s market. Home values countrywide are incredibly low and continuing to drop in places. Those in really bad shape now are the ones that bought five or so years ago when homes were way overpriced. Those in really, really bad shape are those who also got into a mortgage that seemed like a good idea at the time but made little sense in the long-term.

I live in California, where the prices of homes five years ago was way above the assessed value and people routinely had buyers with fat checkbooks knocking down their door to get into homes. Unfortunately, I had just moved to Los Angeles, and I needed a place to live. Going with the conventional wisdom of buying is better than renting, I bought property.

This mindset put my wife and I into a condo that we could not nearly afford. When we applied for the mortgage we were sure we would be denied but when they said yes, we just figured they were smarter than us. Well, the mortgage was an interest only and so we were not building equity. When my wife got pregnant again, she decided to leave her job and full-time salary with it. We were setting and had set ourselves up for trouble. As things got worse and bills piled up, we found ourselves on decrepit furniture with home space heaters to warm us.

As was bound to happen, the housing market and economy collapsed. Our home devalued quickly but our mortgage payments did not. Now, not only could we not afford the home, we couldn’t sell it at a profit and barely sell it at a loss. We went through a bankruptcy to get rid of our debt and decided that to free ourselves up from all financial burdens, we would sell the home through a short sale if we could.

We are currently doing much better renting a home. I hate that we went through what we did but, had we not, we may not have learned some valuable lessons.

I would buy an income property, something that I could put a renter in that would cover my mortgage. I would buy a slight fixer-upper and spruce it up with some cheap home decor accents and maybe a coat of paint. But, most importantly, I would buy something below my price range, taking the renter into consideration and get a mortgage that earned equity and had a good rate either fixed or with a long arm.

I wouldn’t want to do this again and have to worry about covering mortgage monthly without the income to do it. I would own something with obvious value and not sell until it was a truly decent resale property regardless of the economy.

Homeowners at the end of their rope with too many debts to pay off may turn to a bad credit debt consolidation mortgage, which consolidates all their debts into one payment — the mortgage payment. Through a bad credit debt consolidation mortgage, other loans are paid off by the mortgage company, and the homeowner makes repayments to the mortgage company. A bad credit debt consolidation mortgage provides you with a quick and easy answer to paying off debts. However, there are two issues you need to think about.

Number one, if you donít have enough equity in your home (the difference in the purchase price and todayís price) you wonít have enough money available to cover your debts. These loans are a lot like home equity loans. The money you get is used to pay off your debts. Because foreclosed homes or homes put up for auction are usually bought at prices well below their market value, they typically get these kinds of mortgages.

Another thing to consider is the amount of time youíll be paying off the second debt consolidation mortgage. So, if you have a thirty year mortgage, you could be paying off the debts you roll in to your mortgage for thirty years.

Cutting Back on Spending

If you are getting a bad credit debt consolidation mortgage, you may want to really think about what debts you are going to include in it. Using up all of the available equity in your home now is going to keep you from being able to get more money for a while.

Your lender will send the payments directly to the other companies you owe after youíve been approved for your bad credit debt consolidation mortgage. Youíll want to know that the payments are being made before their due date, and that you have a copy of the payment record. After the payments are made, your credit report should also reflect the changes. You donít want your bad credit debt consolidation mortgage to not work for you.

Bear in mind that the loans absorbed by the bad credit debt consolidation mortgage can take as long as 30 years to pay off, so consider whether you really want to pay for those burgers and fries and other consumer purchases for the next three decades.

If you are stuggling with debt or have been the victim of some troubled financial times and want to raise your credit score so you can start enjoying the finer things in life again, you must check out Terry Price Credit Secrets Bible and get yourself back in the lifestyle you deserve.