Are you preparing to buy a home or ready to refinance your current one? Then you’re going to want to consider how many years to finance it for – 30-years or 15-years. If you finance for 30 years, you have the benefits that come along with paying over three decades, while if you finance for 15 years, you have the luxury of paying rock –bottom interest rates.

Here are 3 factors to consider when deciding to take on a 30-year mortgage or 15 year mortgage:

Affordability –  A 15-year payment will be more expensive than a 30- year payment because you’re paying more on the principal. Can you handle a higher payment? That’s something you want to consider.

Stable Job – Make sure that your job is stable enough to handle the time period regardless if its 15 years or 30 years.

Adding a little extra – If you take the 30-year mortgage, you are always free to add a little extra money to your monthly payment when you can afford it. This means you could pay off 20 or 15 years earlier if you want without having to sweat over monthly payments.