Mortgages are popular in the United Kingdom and the United States of America, where people cannot afford homes directly or in cash. When this happens, people choose to get a loan for their home (called a mortgage), to make an initial payment and pay the rest in monthly payments, in order to cover for the initial amount of mortgage and the interest rate as well. If you are wondering what a mortgage is, then realize that most mortgages are taken to buy property or land. In the majority of the cases, most of the mortgages run for 25 years, however, the term can be shorter or longer.