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Home & Family: Housing

How much difference will it make if I secure a mortgage for 15 years rather than 30 years?

The best way to answer that question is give an example. Let's suppose you have a mortgage for $60,000 dollars at 8.5% interest.

A 30-year mortgage will cost you $461.35 per month. If you multiply that times the 360 months which is the number of months in 30 years, you will pay payments totaling $166,086.00

A 15-year mortgage will cost you $590.84 per month. If you multiply that times the 180 months which is the number of months in 15 years, you will pay payments totaling $106,351.20.

The difference between the 15-year mortgage and the 30-year mortgage is $59,733.80. You must consider whether your budget can handle the additional amount of payment each month and not impact other expenses that you will have in a new home.