How Interest Rates Work on a Mortgage

       Buying a home with a mortgage is probably the largest financial transaction you will enter into. Mortgages are the most common type of personal loan held by households. Typically, a bank or mortgage lender will finance 80% of the price of the home, and you agree to pay it back— with interest over a specific period. As you are comparing lenders, mortgage rates and options, it's helpful to understand how interest accrues each month and is paid.

       Simply put, every month you pay back a portion of the principal (the amount you've borrowed) plus the interest accrued for the month. Your lender will use an amortization formula to create a payment schedule that breaks down each payment into paying off principal and interest. The length, or life, of your loan, also determines how much you'll pay each month. Fully amortizing payment refers to peedic loan payment where, if the borrower makes payments according to the loan's amortizatidn schedule, the loan is fully paid off by the end of its set term. If the loan is a fixed-rate loan, each fully amortizing payment is an equal dollar amount. If the loan is an adjustable-rate loan, the fully amortizing payment changes as the interest rate on the loan changes.

      Banks and lenders primarily offer two types of loans: Fixed-Rate Mortgage (FRM) and Adjustable-Rate Mortgage (ARM). Here's how these work in a home mortgage.

        Fixed-Rate Mortgage (FRM): The monthly payment remains the same for the life of this loan. The interest rate is locked in and does not change. Loans have a repayment life span of 30 years; shorter lengths of 10, 15 or 20 years are also commonly available. Shorter loans will have larger monthly payments that are offset by lower interest rates and lower overall cost.

Adjustable-Rate Mortgage (ARM): Because the interest rate is not locked in, the monthly payment for this type of loan will change over the life of the loan. Most ARMs have a limit or cap on how much the interest rate may fluctuate,as well as how often it can be changed. When the rate goes up or down, the lender recalculates your monthly payment so that you'll make equal payments until the next rate adjustment occurs. As interest rates rise, so does your monthly payment, with each payment applied to interest and principal in the same manner as a fixed-rate mortgage, over a set number of years. Lenders often offer lower interest rates for the first few years of an ARM, but then rates change frequently after that as often as once a year. The initial interest rate on an ARM is significantly lower than a fixed-rate mortgage.

抵押贷款中的利率是如何运作的？

用抵押贷款购买房屋可能是你将要进行的最大的金融交易。抵押贷款是家庭持有的最常见的个人贷款类型。通常，银行或抵押贷款放贷机构会为房屋的80%提供资金，而你同意在特定期限内偿还这笔贷款，并支付利息。在比较贷款人、抵押贷款利率和选项时，了解每月利息如何累积以及如何支付是有帮助的。

简单来说，每个月你都需要偿还一部分本金（即你所借的金额）以及当月产生的利息。你的贷款方会用一种“摊还法”公式来制定还款计划，将每笔还款分成两部分：偿还本金和利息。贷款的期限（或称“贷款期限”）也会影响你每月需要偿还的金额。“完全摊还”是指一种定期偿还贷款的还款方式，如果借款人按照贷款的摊还计划按时还款，那么在贷款期限结束时，贷款将被全部还清。如果贷款是固定利率贷款，那么每个完全摊还的还款金额都是相等的。如果贷款是可变利率贷款，那么随着贷款利率的变化，完全摊还的还款金额也会随之改变。

银行和贷款机构主要提供两种类型的贷款：固定利率抵押贷款（FRM）和可调整利率抵押贷款（ARM）。以下是这两种贷款在房屋抵押贷款中的运作方式。

固定利率抵押贷款（FRM）：在贷款期间，每月还款额保持不变。利率固定不变。贷款期限为30年；也有10年、15年或20年的较短期限可供选择。较短的贷款期限将导致每月还款额增加，但同时也能降低利率和整体成本。

可调整利率抵押贷款（ARM）：由于利率未被锁定，因此此类贷款的月供将在整个贷款期间发生变化。大多数ARM都有利率波动的上限或封顶，以及利率调整的频率限制。当利率上升或下降时，贷款人将重新计算您的月供，以便您在下一次利率调整前按固定金额还款。随着利率上升，您的月供也会随之上升，每笔付款的分配方式与固定利率抵押贷款相同，在设定的年限内用于支付利息和本金。贷款人通常会为ARM的前几年提供较低的利率，但在此之后利率会频繁变动，甚至每年变动一次。ARM的初始利率远低于固定利率抵押贷款。

The Best Smart Home Innovations and Why You Want Them

         The phrase "smart home" is one we are hearing with increasing regularity as the Internet of Things makes our lives and homes ever more interconnected.

       Essentially, a smart home is one fitted with gadgets that automate some of the tasks that would ordinarily be carried out by people. Some might be hard-wired into the house itself, and this will be an increasing trend with newly-built properties, but there are many that can be easily added later. Smart gadgets can be operated either by artificial intelligence that "know;" when to switch things on or off, or by voice command. Some can also be remotely managed and monitored via your smart phone.

      Turning your home into a smart home, or at least adding aspects of smart technology can. deliver a number of benefits. One of the biggest benefits that smart tech can bring is to reduce your household costs. Smart thermostats optimize the heating and cooling of your home by making subtle adjustments, depending on the ambient conditions. But it is not just here that you can save money and resources.

       Garden sprinklers can be hugely wasteful, and whenever there is a water shortage, they are the first things to be banned. A smart home irrigation system uses the same type of solenoid valve used in the automatic control of your home heating system. The system can either be pre-programmed or will use a combination of inputs such as temperature sensors and even weather reports for your area to decide when to water the garden.

     As our home security gets more effective and sophisticated, so do the burglars. There is a constant battle to stay one step ahead, and smart tech brings some tools that can make our homes far safer.

      Technology that closes the blinds and turns on some lights around the house during the evening gives the impression that someone is home while you are away, but perhaps the best innovation is the smart doorbell. This allows you to answer the door remotely and see who is there, all from your smart phone.

      There are a growing number of robotic vacuum cleaners on the market, but these are just the beginning. Imagine a fridge that can automatically reorder items when they are getting low-the advent of smar labels will make this kind of convenience commonplace . or how about a washing machine that can assess its content and decide the best wash cycle? The smart home is something that is just in its infancy, and the possibilities are endless.

最佳智能家居创新及为何你需要它们

“智能家居”这个词是我们在物联网让我们的生活和家居越来越互联互通的情况下越来越多地听到的。

基本上，智能家居是指配备有自动化设备的房屋，可以完成一些通常由人来完成的任务。有些设备可能需要与房屋本身进行硬连接，而这一趋势将在新建房屋中越来越普遍，但还有很多设备可以在后期轻松添加。智能设备可以通过人工智能“知道”何时开关设备，或者通过语音命令来操作。有些设备还可以通过智能手机远程管理和监控。

将你的家变成智能家居，或者至少添加一些智能技术的元素，可以带来许多好处。智能技术所能带来的最大好处之一就是降低家庭开支。智能恒温器会根据环境条件进行细微调整，以优化家中的供暖和制冷。但节约金钱和资源并不仅限于此。