Prices never dropped here but new home sales did drop causing a spike in rents. Looks like those renters are looking for the American dream now. BTW: I just refinanced at 3.875% on a 30 year fixed. Closing on Friday. I'm looking to see if I can get an even lower rate since I haven't closed.
snipped-for-privacy@optonline.net has a stick in his/her butt.
Yeah. I'd say historic low mortgage rates should be OT for just about any homeowner, especially these days. Unless your credit rating is in the toilet.
I'd say on topic for a group like this. Housing market is important and resales are still only half the rate they should be. It even effects home repair since construction workers are idle and you can get good work done at low cost.
Many people don't stay in one house or one mortgage. Personally, I've bought three houses, sold 2, and refinanced at 3 times. Just because you're paying a mortgage doesn't mean you don't have equity. I could own my old house in ABQ, which appraises at less than half of my current house.
Not sure I was old or not by today's standards but I was in my young
40s when my mortgage days were gone. Actually I might have been able to do it in my late 30s at my CPA wife's urging but I didn't feel comfortable with little in the bank account so I waited. She still thinks she was right but it's a moot point now.
============ Purchase points, also known as a "buy-down" or "discount points," are an up-front fee paid to the lender at closing to buy-down or lower your interest rate over the life of the loan. Each point is equal to one percent of your total loan amount. If you have a $100,000 loan, one point would equal $1,000. The more points you buy, the lower your interest rate, but the more money you'll need at closing.
How do you decide whether you should buy points and if so, how many? Well, the decision should be based on how long you plan on living in your home and what you can afford to pay each month toward your mortgage. If you plan on living in your home for more than five years, it's probably a good idea to purchase points. The longer you live in your home, the more you can save on interest over the life of the loan. =============
We don't have these "points" on mortgages here in Canada.
The rate that a bank advertizes or the rate that gets negotiated with a client is the final rate. We also have the option of making mortgage payments once a week, or 2 per month, or once per month (and having it automatically withdrawn from a savings or checking account). Paying more often results in a lower amortized amount over time. Our mortgages also allow for 1 or 2 balloon payments every year (typically $10k or $20k) without incurring any sort of penalty.
I'm more of the accountant here and I can't come close to a payoff. I wish my wife had the financial sense yours does. We could be well on our way to that type of independence. It's just not important to her.
In the long run, it may be better to raise your own kids, even if it means taking one parent out of the work world. No ammount of money is worth having kids with separation anxiety, and mental problems.
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I dunno about anyone else but around here quality "full day" day care will be costing a wee bit more a month than our mortgage payments.
So for our family, we will make the minimum mortgage payments, then ramp up once the kiddies enter school.
It's just one take on mortgage payments but it's easy to make that decision with rates still so damn low.
Well, we were pretty thrifty then considering our salaries. I still think we live modest tho not as much as then but we had good reason then... 2 daughters in day care and who eventually went to college.
Try to teach your wife the importance of your later years. I can tell you that you won't believe how important it is when you retire and have no job and that's assuming you're still in good health. SS benefits aren't enough, in my opinion, to live comfortable. I speak from experience because my wife and I are about to retire and I wrote up a detailed spreadsheet on our income and expenses (based on actual banking not my guesses) and I have a good picture of what it will take for us to live the same lifestyle including paying for our health insurance. Personally speaking, the spreadsheet took me a long time to write because I had to read a lot of banking statements, etc.. but once I had it written, it has saved me a lot of time with questions that arose later.
Move to the states where the govt gives you everything for free or will eventually. Then those in the younger generation will get taxed to death to pay for the free benefits.
We do have a retirement plan and, IMO, we're planning much better than most. She wants to enjoy life now while she's still young. I really can't argue too much with that because she makes good money and does have a sizable 401k.
She does appreciate the basic things I've done to keep us out of debt like no credit cards etc...
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