Second homes

A residence other than the borrowers primary residence which the borrower intends to occupy for a portion of each year.

A second home will generally need to meet certain guidelines to be considered a 2nd home. One of the main guidelines is the properties location. If you have a 2nd home on the same street that you currently live on a lender is going to treat this as an investment property. Now if you have a 2nd home on a beach by the ocean this would be much more realistic to considered to be a second home. There are many other guidelines that need to be met and/or followed also for a property to be considered a second home. Ask your mortgage broker for more information.

Interest rates for second homes are often higher then rates you will get for your primary residence. Part of the reason for this is the value of "pride of ownership". It is assumed you will not be as attatched to your second home as you will to the home you actually reside in. The lenders offset this risk with a bump to the interest rates.

You can get many of the same programs and rates on a second home as you can get on your primary residence such as an array or adjustable rate mortgages (ARM), Option ARM's, interest only and fixed rate mortgages.