When looking for a mortgage to meet your needs, consider these key questions: Is your income expected to increase in the coming years? How long do you plan to live in your new home? And, which mortgage will provide the lowest interest rate?

While 15 or 30 year fixed-rate mortgages are the most popular, and Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) offers some interesting alternatives for home shoppers who plan to move again within four or five years. Although interest rates are the lowest they’ve been in 20 years, an ARM provides even lower interest rates during its introductory period.

An Adjustable Rate Mortgage is a home loan with an interest rate that fluctuations with market interest rates. Instead of paying the same rate of interest over the life of the loan, as you would with a fixed-rate mortgage, you usually pay a lower interest rate the first four or five years. Your interest rate then changes in accordance with certain rate indexes.

However, ARMS come with maximum caps on how much the interest rate can increase in a single period (usually a year) and how high the rate can go during the entire life of the loan. Usually, the overall maximum cap is six percentage points, and the annual cap is two points

W. Troy Swezey is the author of “ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGES OFFER ALTERNATIVES FOR HOME BUYERS." As a Realtor at Century 21 Paul & Associates, he has helped many individuals with their real estate needs. Visit his web site to download his free e-book, “REAL ESTATE SECRETS EXPOSED.” http://www.TroyIsMyRealtor.com or mail to: TroyC21@usa.net

As you may know, I have a very deep passion for real estate and mortgages.  In fact, this website is a true labor of love for me.   As publisher, one my many duties is to review the many books, programs and courses about real estate and mortgages that are on the market today.  I’ll be honest with you.  Most of them are garbage.  (Although I do strongly recommend the programs in the “Must Have” box above).  But, let me tell you, when I came upon the following headline, I new I found a winner… “Learn How To Quickly Build At Least $40,000 Worth Of Home Equity And Pay Your Mortgage Off In 10 Years Or Less” -Without Making Biweekly Mortgage Payments-Or Changing Your Current Mortgage. Now, the reason I knew it was a winner was because of the name behind the headline.  Craig Romero.  Many consider Craig to be one of the true geniuses in our field.  I have a lot of respect for him, and I urge you to drop what you are doing right now and click the link below...