Your turn: 15-year vs. 30-year mortgages

It's not that I regret refinancing into a 15-year mortgage last November. We'll have the mortgage paid off by the time #2 hits college. And having just refinanced has convinced me on more than one occasion to stay put rather than move up, keeping our housing costs lower.

Plus at the time, the 30-year rate wasn't low enough to make another three decade obligation make sense.

If I had to do it over again, with 30-year fixed rates hovering in the 4.3 percent zone, I think I would have selected a 15 or 20-year mortgage. Then I would have paid extra principal when I could to get the loan paid off by the time college tuition bills come our way. We're pretty disciplined so I think that strategy would have worked for us.

That strategy and other considerations were laid out in my latest column. I also wrote up some points to consider when trying to decide which option is best for you. When it comes to personal finance, it's not always clear which option is the absolute best until much later, if ever.

One other thing to mention: Refinancing doesn't always make sense. If you are barely paying any interest because your loan's term is almost through, why pay thousands in closing costs to say you have a lower rate than your neighbor? I know, it's easy to get caught up in the fervor of the latest personal finance task to attract the media's attention. I'm just asking you to run the numbers first, OK?

Here's that pros and cons list. If I missed any, share your thoughts.

The pros of a 15 year....

•Depending on when you took out the mortgage, the payoff could come in time to free up cash for college or retirement.

•You don't have to live with a significant fixed expense for more than two decades.

•You wake up and go to bed knowing you own your house free and clear.

The cons of a 15 year ....

•You lock into a higher payment than you would if you picked a 30-year mortgage.

•By taking on a larger payment, you have less financial flexibility. What happens if you're laid off or want to take advantage of an investment opportunity?

•You're assuming that a shorter-term mortgage will be a good idea 15 years down the road. What happens when Johnny's ice time gets to be too expensive?