Mortgage types: Fixed vs. variable, 30-year and other loan terms, and more

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Look beyond the monthly payment.

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When buying a home, you’ll face a host of choices. You may be debating a smaller home or condo in the city versus a larger one in the suburbs. You might be weighing school districts, looking at proximity to relatives, or factoring in your commuting time. But you’ll also have to decide how to pay for your home.

Assuming you don’t have several hundred thousand in cash lying around (or some really generous relatives), you’ll be taking out a mortgage. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 74% of home buyers—and 91% of first-time buyers—financed their home purchase in 2024.

Mortgages come in all shapes and sizes—each with its own repayment profile and set of rules—designed for specific budgets and life circumstances. As you weigh each choice, think about how long you plan to be in the home, how current interest rates compare to historical averages, and how you prioritize building home equity versus minimizing your monthly payment.

When selecting a mortgage, first-time homebuyers often think in terms of the monthly payment and little else. But mortgages come in several shapes, sizes, and payment plans.

The majority of homebuyers—80% to 90%—choose fixed-rate mortgages. With a fixed-rate mortgage, you know your monthly payments will be the same for the life of the loan. Common loan terms are 30, 20, and 15 years.

How long do you want to be paying off your mortgage? The loan term you choose will depend on how much money you can budget for loan repayment each month. There are a few advantages to taking a shorter-term mortgage. For starters, you’ll pay it off and own your home sooner. And most of the time (but not always) you’ll be offered a lower interest rate than you would on a longer-term loan.

As anyone who’s paid off a mortgage will tell you, it’s an amazing feeling to be unencumbered by that monthly payment. Sure, you’ll still be on the hook for property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and utilities, but the monthly mortgage payment is frequently the biggest line item on a monthly budget, so paying it off can open up a lot of budgeting flexibility.

A longer-term loan, on the other hand, not only comes with a higher interest rate, but also more payments, meaning you’ll pay more overall for your home—much of it in interest. But because your principal payments are spread over 30 years, the overall monthly payment is lower. That allows for its own level of budget flexibility.

An adjustable rate mortgage, or ARM, comes with an interest rate that will change periodically based on an interest rate index.

People who choose an ARM typically do so because it comes with an attractive introductory interest rate. How long that rate lasts will be spelled out in your loan documents, and sometimes in the shorthand description of the loan. For example, a 5/1 ARM will keep its original rate for five years, and then readjust every year after that.

The risk is that you could end up with much higher monthly payments on your loan than you expected. However, many ARMs have limits on how much they can raise their rates, called initial adjustment caps and interest caps. These terms are worth reviewing if you’re considering an ARM.

If you plan to be in your home for a shorter term—say, five years or less—but you still prefer to own rather than rent, an ARM might be your best bet.

A balloon loan is structured with lower monthly payments until the very end of the mortgage term, when you’ll be required to pay off the balance in one giant payment—at least twice the monthly payment, and usually many times that amount. At that point, you’ll be faced with a big decision and a big risk: You can pay off the balance, take out a new loan at the prevailing rate, or sell the home. With a balloon mortgage, you’ll have to ask yourself whether those lower payments are worth the risk.

A jumbo loan is for a mortgage balance above the “conforming mortgage” limits set by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). For 2025, the conforming ceiling is $806,500 in most places, and $1,209,750 in areas deemed “high cost.” Jumbo mortgages used to come with much higher rates than conforming loans, but that’s no longer the case. In fact, because many jumbo mortgage borrowers have high credit scores, the rate difference is often negligible.

“Piggybacking” is when you take out two loans: a mortgage and a home equity loan or home equity line of credit. The mortgage is to pay for the home, and the second loan is to help you make a 20% down payment on that home. By having that 20% down payment, you can avoid the cost of mortgage insurance.

An interest-only mortgage—as the name implies—requires you to pay only the interest portion of a conventional mortgage, which means you’re not paying down the principal balance. Interest-only mortgages came under fire in the wake of the 2007–08 financial crisis for exacerbating the severity of the housing market meltdown. They’re not nearly as popular nowadays. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are no longer allowed to purchase these loans, which means the lender must keep the loan on their books.

How much you can afford to borrow for a home depends on your budget. Consider your household finances now and in the future to help you make the right decision about the type of home you want to buy, and how to pay for it.

One place to start is with the Britannica Money Mortgage Calculator (see below). How much home can you afford? To get a starting point, put in the the price of the house you have your eye on and your down payment (expressed in either percentage or dollar amount terms). Next, select your mortgage term and the published interest rate for that mortgage type, and set the payment to monthly. Do you like what you see? Keep in mind, your rate will vary depending on your credit score, whether you’ll need to pay for private mortgage insurance (PMI), and other factors. And if your home is part of a homeowners association (HOA), you’ll have to budget for that, too.

And if you’re considering an ARM or other nonstandard mortgage, be sure you check the numbers before you sign.

Buying a home is a long-term commitment, so it makes sense to know your options when signing a mortgage. The terms of that mortgage will affect your monthly budget for years to come, so be sure to run the calculations, shop around, and ask questions before you take out a mortgage.