The most common mortgage terms are 30 or 15 years. This means the loan balance is repaid over either 15 or 30 years. Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM) come in 3/1, 5/1, 7/1, and 10/1 terms. This means your interest rate is fixed for three, five, seven, or 10 years, and after that, the rate resets annually based on current mortgage interest rates.