Do you have a 30-year mortgage?  That’s over half of your working life!  We know that the purchase of a home is a dream for pretty much everyone. But, taking on that massive debt can prevent you from retiring earlier, sending the kids to college, or taking that dream vacation. If your mortgage is putting a halt on the rest of your life and on your finances, the least you can do is to find an affordable mortgage.

Consider the following suggestions to help you find the right mortgage for your situation.

First off, purchase a home you can afford.  Secondly, pay down your other debts.  You can start by paying off the most expensive debts first, and then clear high-interest credit cards and loans before overpaying your mortgage, as they’re usually more expensive.  Consider using tax refunds to pay off loans, also pour every bit of extra cash into your mortgage by dedicating every windfall — a bonus, raise, or a holiday gift of cash — you receive toward paying down debt.

Suggested Program: Arizona Home Plus Program

Obviously, the highest-interest debt takes priority and if you get a windfall of extra cash, don’t even ask yourself twice what you’ll do with the money; add it to your mortgage payment by designating it as additional funds to go towards the principle.

When you can pay extra! Every time you have the ability to pay something extra on your mortgage, more and more of each payment will get applied to your principle balance.  You would be amazed at how much of your mortgage payment goes towards interest charges.  You may not be able to decrease the amount of principle required, you sure can reduce the amount of interest you have to pay by adding a few extra bucks towards the principle.

You could also consider refinancing into a shorter loan and brave through higher payments until it’s paid off and/or you can get a lower interest rate.  If you chose a 15 or 20-year fixed-rate loan, although it would increase your monthly payment, in the end, it would save you thousands of dollars in interest over the life of the loan.

If your funds aren’t overflowing quite that much, you could aim to make one extra mortgage payment a year.  This would help you cut out some interest charges and save you from having to pay closing costs on the refinance.

Like any other debt, if you’re able to get rid of your mortgage as soon as possible, the better off you’ll be down the road.