Many first-time home buyers are encouraged to shoot for a traditional, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. While this is often a lofty goal, the truth is that there are some advantages and disadvantages that should be considered first. Before you decide to go with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, weigh the following pros and cons very carefully.

Calculating Monthly Expenses

One of the biggest advantages is the fact that your mortgage payment remains virtually unchanged over the life of your loan. There are only minor fluctuations to account for changes in insurance and property tax obligations. This makes it easy to calculate monthly expenses, and might even allow you to set aside additional money to put toward savings or retirement investments. read more