It takes a real financial wizard to understand all the mechanisms in play behind the establishment of mortgage loan rates. The rest of us simply don’t get it.

Fortunately for us, there are those financial wizards out there who do understand how mortgage loan rates are established and what makes them fluctuate. We can be glad to have them but we don’t have to understand how they think in order to buy a new home.

In fact, understanding mortgage loan rates is a lot like understanding electricity. We just don’t need to understand the details of what electricity is and how it works specifically to know that, when we flip a switch, a light comes on.

It is good to know, though, that when there is a problem with the electricity, there are electrical geniuses out there who understand enough about it to fix it for us.

Mortgage loan rates work the same way.

We know when we apply for a mortgage that there will be a mortgage loan rate, or interest rate, attached. It’s in our best interest to know what that rate is and if and how it might fluctuate over the course of the loan.

We don’t need to know, however, all the far-flung and complicated details that went into establishing mortgage loan rates. That’s what the financial wizards and government gurus do.

There are really only a few things we need to know about mortgage loan rates.

One thing to know is that the better our credit rating, the lower the mortgage loan rates we’ll likely be offered.

Another thing is whether our interest rate will stay the same throughout the term of the loan or if it will change at some point during repayment.

If it changes, chances are quite likely that our monthly mortgage payments will change, too. Most of us consider it a nasty surprise when these changes sneak up on us so it’s a good idea to know when to expect these changes.

Mortgage loan rates do change from time to time but usually not very dramatically. When they do change dramatically, it’s good to know that refinancing might be in order although we don’t need to know exactly what forces were at work behind the dramatic changes.

No, mortgage loan rates are not something we need to know a lot about in order to buy a new home.

What we do need to know about, though, is where to put the new sofa. Or plant the roses. Or which color to paint the bathroom. We need to focus our genius on important things such as these.