Home sweet home loan

When it comes to "Your Money," it's easy to find conflicting opinions on almost every issue. None mystify me more than the two sides of the argument on whether it is a good idea to pay off your mortgage early.

Let me stake out my territory right from the start: I side with the pay-it-quick school. I don't want a big house payment delaying my plans to retire at an early age, and I don't particularly want to "downsize" to a less expensive home.

Mortgage interest is one of the few tax deductions left, and that's probably the most often heard reason for sticking with regular house payments. But you've gotta spend the dough to get the deduction.

Look at the truth-in-lending statement you received when you closed on your house. Over the life of a 30-year loan you may be paying two-, two and one-half-, or three times the amount you borrowed.

With interest rates near historically low levels, refinancing could hold the key to chewing up large bites of that mortgage note. Lowering your rate, or shortening the length of the loan, can cut you some slack to add extra cash toward your principal payments.

Today, there are many kinds of mortgages available to fit the needs of most families. The traditional fixed-rate loan for 15 or 30 years might be found in 10- or 20-year varieties as well. Payments on fixed-rate loans won't go up and down during the life of the loan, and they are the simplest to deal with.

Adjustable-rate mortgages or ARMs usually have the lowest rates, but they do fluctuate over time. Generally, the amount of allowed yearly adjustments and the total the rate can change are set when the loan is taken. For example, you might see an ARM advertised with 2 percent annual caps and a 6 percent limit.

Bi-weekly mortgages are usually ARMs, but the borrower makes 26 payments per year instead of 12. Equity builds faster this way and total borrowing costs are cut because the loan is paid off sooner. Caution: never pay a third party to arrange a bi-weekly payment schedule for you. This is a do-it-yourself project that can be arranged easily with the cooperation of your lender.

Balloon mortgages allow borrowers to make lower payments for a specified period--often five to seven years--with either payment in full or refinancing at prevailing market rates due after that. These plans are especially good for people who know they are going to move or will come into money before the clock runs out and bursts the balloon. When the deadline comes, though, borrowing rates may not be as favorable as they are now.

Something new in my part of the country is the interest-only mortgage. If your aim is to buy the biggest home possible; if you plan to move in a few years; or if you want to have cash to invest for retirement, college tuition or other goals, this might be your ticket.

Instead of accelerating payments on the principal, you only pay interest during the early years of the loan (up to 15 years depending on the lender). Because mortgage loans are skewed toward interest in the early years, virtually every dollar you pay becomes tax-deductible. After the interest-only period is up, the missed principal payments are added to the remaining monthly costs.

The key to making this work is to put the money you save to work for you. Invest it, save it, fund your goals. Be disciplined. If you just spend it, you've wasted your greatest opportunity to build wealth.

So, what's the other side of the debate? Common advice is that if your home loan rate is lower than you can reap in a reasonably assured investment, invest the cash rather than buying down the mortgage. But it's that "reasonably assured" part that's the catch.

Two years ago, you might have been reasonably sure you could make 12 percent to 20 percent on your investments. After all, the stock markets historically have returned more than 11 percent a year, and they had been on a 20-plus percent spree for more than five years. Then the bottom fell out of the dot-com economy, and corporate profits sagged.

Extra money put into investments two years ago could well be worth less today than it was then. But the same dollars put toward prepaying your house note would have earned an effective rate of return equal to your mortgage rate.

There is no one right answer to the question of whether to prepay your mortgage. Families that refinance to a lower rate are likely to do so as a way of saving money that can be directed to meet the necessities of living rather than to retire their mortgage debt early. But there is more to it than just dollars and cents. There is also the peace of mind and personal satisfaction that come with being mortgage-free.

Look both ways before you accelerate

Answer these questions before deciding whether an accelerated payment schedule is right for you:

• Do you have debt other than your mortgage? If so, pay that off first. It's likely at a higher rate and is not deductible.
• Are you contributing the maximum to your tax-deferred retirement plans? If not, many experts agree that this might be the place to park your "extra" money.
• Do you have adequate cash reserves in an "emergency" fund? The standard recommendation is three to six months' worth of after-tax income.
• Does you current mortgage have prepayment penalties that effectively nullify the advantage of satisfying the loan early?