If shopping for a new home is one of the most fun things you’ll ever do, then shopping for a mortgage to finance that home is one of the least fun things. By the time you read about all of the mortgage products available and all of the warnings associated with each type of option, your head is ready to explode, but once you’re through the fine print it’s all worth it.

As I mentioned a few months ago, many of the very tight lending regulations and requirements are starting to ease up for burrowers with little cash to put down and lower credit scores. In addition, there are more mortgage options available, some going back to before the financial crisis, making shopping for a mortgage challenging for almost everyone.

The gold standard of home mortgages is the fixed-rate mortgage which still accounts for 90 percent of loans. A 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage means that your rate and payment period will not change during the life of the mortgage. You can also get a 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage which naturally means that your monthly repayment figure will be higher, but again, you are locked into the rate for the term of the mortgage. Fixed-rate mortgages carry a higher percentage point, usually a little over one point for 30-year and less for a 15 year.

The next most common type of home financing is the adjustable rate mortgage. Adjustable rate mortgages are fixed for a period of three to 10 years and then adjust based on the interest rate at that time. These mortgages are appealing because the initial interest rate is considerably lower than a fixed rate mortgage and work very well for homeowners who anticipate being in their homes for a specific number of years. It’s possible to also lock in a cap on how high the rate can go when the mortgage adjusts which will be reflected in the interest rate.

Getting into the more exotic areas that got a lot of people in trouble around the time of the housing bust are interest only loans. Interest only is just that for a set period of time usually five to 10 years you only pay interest on the loan. This means that nothing is paid towards buying down the principal, and therefore, no equity is accrued. When the real estate market was appreciating 30 and 50 percent a year and more, interest only loans were very tempting, since it kept your monthly payment low while still building equity. Of course, at the end of the interest only term, monthly payments soar in order to start paying back the principal. These days interest only is usually available to only homeowners with a lot of wealth.

Another product called piggyback loans are a combination of a fixed rate mortgage for usually 80 percent of the home’s value and a home-equity loan or line of credit for 10 percent of the value. This allows the burrower to put down only 10 percent of the home’s value essentially financing 90 percent of the home. The home-equity portion of the piggy back loan is at a fixed rate for typically a 10-year term at a much higher rate than the 80 percent portion of the loan, therefore, making monthly payments higher. The advantage to the homeowner is a smaller overall down payment, but the danger is if home values go down you could owe more than the home is worth.

With everything we’ve been through in recent years, everyone needs to be very careful how they proceed with home financing. Reading the fine print may not be as much fun as dreaming of the backyard pool, but if you don’t, more than your head will explode.