That adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) provided you with extra wiggle room when you first made your big purchase, but now that your time is running out and the interest on your ARM is about to rise, you may be contemplating your next move: Do you keep the loan or do you switch to a fixed-rate mortgage? According to a recent article in Kiplinger's, the answer to that question depends on how long you expect to own that piece of real estate. For example, if it is a house that you see yourself moving out of in a few years, it may be worth paying the higher payments for those years to avoid refinancing costs and a prepayment penalty for getting out of your ARM. If it is the office you run your practice out of, and you hope to own and maintain it for a while, Kiplinger's suggests comparing your current rate and possible future increases to a fixed-rate mortgage or hybrid ARM with a period of at least 7 to 10 years. Current rates on loans, while not as low as they were a few years ago, are still reasonable and historically low. If rates go up, you've locked in at a lower number; if rates go down, you always have the option to refinance.