A housing poll

[Scarlett]

Curious about how our board handles housing costs.

[Laura Corin]

I voted other. We have an interest-only mortgage on our home. We are planning to pay it off by taking a larger mortgage on our rental property. This will have tax benefits, and also extend the mortgage past Husband's 65th birthday.

[Guest]

30 year USDA mortgage...which incidentally is almost exactly per month what my last car payment was and the total is less than a souped-up luxury sedan.  I originally bought it as a back-up "college fund" for DS.  When he's ready for college in about 9-10 years, I could re-mortgage it (home equity or whatever it's called) and be able to pay for college completely, if he doesn't get any scholarships.  (The non-back-up plan is to put down roots and enjoy ourselves, which we are most definitely doing :)

[Scarlett]

For those of you who have a 30 year mortgage do you feel you had no choice? Was it the least expensive home you could (reasonably) stand to live in? Or did you go 30 year because you wanted a more expensive house?

[AimeeM]

The house we sold/moved from was on a 15 year mortgage and we only had 6 or 7 more years to go before it would have been paid off. It was one of the hardest parts of selling it.

The new house has a 30 year mortgage, but we hope to eventually move that to a 15 year, like we did the old house (which, like this house, was on a 30 year, before we moved it to a 15 year).

[TammyS]

 also extend the mortgage past Husband's 65th birthday.

 

Is there some benefit to this?  I'm asking because my dh is 53 and I'm wondering if I'm missing out on something.

[TammyS]

For those of you who have a 30 year mortgage do you feel you had no choice? Was it the least expensive home you could (reasonably) stand to live in? Or did you go 30 year because you wanted a more expensive house?

 

We definitely didn't have a choice.  We live in an area that is economically poor, but has a lot of "come heres" who bring their own money and have driven up the housing market.  Our AGH is about $43K, we paid $104K for a 70s rancher with 1326 sqft, 30 miles from my husband's job.  It was the only decent house we could afford (by decent I mean in reasonable, non-slum-like condition in a safe area).  We would like to have lived closer but closer would mean really bad neighborhoods, or way the heck out of our price range (decent starts at $200K, closer to where my dh works).  We could have just swung a 15yr, but felt like it would make the budget too tight and not allow room for things that come up.  On the upside, we bought at the bottom of the market, so our house is probably worth $130K-$140K and our interest rate is 3.25%.  So, I'm overall happy.

[Joker]

We originally purchased a 30 year mortgage. We had no choice. Two years later we refinanced to a 15 year mortgage when rates were better. We will be selling that home next year and buying a new one. It will be a 15 year.

[regentrude]

For those of you who have a 30 year mortgage do you feel you had no choice? Was it the least expensive home you could (reasonably) stand to live in? Or did you go 30 year because you wanted a more expensive house?

 

We started out with a 30 year mortgage because the lower monthly payments allowed us to retain some liquidity (even at the expense of a greater total interest burden). We had moved to a new country, started new jobs, had no idea how income would develop, so this was the safest option.

We refinanced a year later, when interest rates had dropped significantly, to a 15 year mortgage that had comparable monthly payments.

 

We did not get the largest mortgage amount for which we would have qualified or the most expensive house we could have afforded; this did not seem a prudent choice.

[Shellydon]

We had a 20 year mortgage that we paid off in 11 years. 

[Kim in Appalachia]

For those of you who have a 30 year mortgage do you feel you had no choice? Was it the least expensive home you could (reasonably) stand to live in? Or did you go 30 year because you wanted a more expensive house?

 

 

We could have done a 20 year mortgage, but went with 30.  I wanted the financial flexibility. We over payed each month for the first 10 yrs, then when my oldest entered college, we cut back to what we owe each month.  When we moved here, we knew college costs would be coming and one way to help meet it was to be able to cut down our monthly payment.  I know there are other ways of doing that, we could have refinanced, but then we would have been taking a chance at not getting a rate below 4%.  I still think it was a good move for us. 

[DawnM]

We have 12 years left on a 15.   We are moving and are discussing what we want to do.  We are considering a 30 year since we have 3 kids heading to college and want the flexibility, but we aren't sure.  

[Ethel Mertz]

Other: Our house goes with the job.

[redsquirrel]

For those of you who have a 30 year mortgage do you feel you had no choice? Was it the least expensive home you could (reasonably) stand to live in? Or did you go 30 year because you wanted a more expensive house?

 

We didn't have a choice.  We bought our house through a housing agency that buys houses that are either condemned or being sold for taxes etc and it then fixes them up, makes them super energy efficient, and sells them to first time homeowners at market prices.  So, we have a house that was built in 1860, but has new plumbing, heating, windows, roof, etc etc. 

 

We also got federal assistance for first time, low income homeowners.  The agency exists to get people who normally wouldn't be able to own a home into their own house.  DH took a class on home ownership and went through their credit approval program...he was in great shape to buy a house right away.  Most of the people in that class also have to go through a several year credit recovery plan. But, we didn't. 

 

We only had to come up with a 2,000$ down payment and no fees.  We had to work with a financial planner to show how we would afford the house and repairs on our then current income. The biggest thing for us was we had to give up our second crappy car.  That was easy for us b/c we moved into the city.  DH takes a bus or bikes to work.  Most days our only car sits in the driveway. But getting rid of the car and the insurance and gas costs etc freed up enough in our budget that the process was easy.

 

We had to go with their mortgage, which is a 30 year one, but our interest is so low, it's less than 3% that it's not exactly a burden.

 

There are some challenges to the house. It is on what is considered the 'bad' side of town, mostly by people who don't live here. That is one of the charges of the agency that rebuilt the house, it has to be in 'up and coming' neighborhoods. The idea is that by filling empty and abandoned houses with families they are improving the neighborhoods.  I have to say I agree with them.  My house was empty and trashed. It was sometimes lived in by squatters. By fixing it up and getting a family in the house, the neighborhood is doing much better. 

[Scarlett]

We didn't have a choice.  We bought our house through a housing agency that buys houses that are either condemned or being sold for taxes etc and it then fixes them up, makes them super energy efficient, and sells them to first time homeowners at market prices.  So, we have a house that was built in 1860, but has new plumbing, heating, windows, roof, etc etc. 

 

We also got federal assistance for first time, low income homeowners.  The agency exists to get people who normally wouldn't be able to own a home into their own house.  DH took a class on home ownership and went through their credit approval program...he was in great shape to buy a house right away.  Most of the people in that class also have to go through a several year credit recovery plan. But, we didn't. 

 

We only had to come up with a 2,000$ down payment and no fees.  We had to work with a financial planner to show how we would afford the house and repairs on our then current income. The biggest thing for us was we had to give up our second crappy car.  That was easy for us b/c we moved into the city.  DH takes a bus or bikes to work.  Most days our only car sits in the driveway. But getting rid of the car and the insurance and gas costs etc freed up enough in our budget that the process was easy.

 

We had to go with their mortgage, which is a 30 year one, but our interest is so low, it's less than 3% that it's not exactly a burden.

 

There are some challenges to the house. It is on what is considered the 'bad' side of town, mostly by people who don't live here. That is one of the charges of the agency that rebuilt the house, it has to be in 'up and coming' neighborhoods. The idea is that by filling empty and abandoned houses with families they are improving the neighborhoods.  I have to say I agree with them.  My house was empty and trashed. It was sometimes lived in by squatters. By fixing it up and getting a family in the house, the neighborhood is doing much better. 

 

 

I love this idea.

[UCF612]

We debated 15 year or 30 year.  In the end we preferred paying less over a longer period.  The house we bought was at the top of our budget but we plan to live here forever God willing.  It is the perfect place for us now with little kids and for the future when we're old.  

 

 

[Carrie12345]

For those of you who have a 30 year mortgage do you feel you had no choice? Was it the least expensive home you could (reasonably) stand to live in? Or did you go 30 year because you wanted a more expensive house?

 

We didn't have what *I* would consider a reasonable choice.  Interest rates were a little higher, housing prices were a lot higher, and our income was about 60% of what it is now.  If I had had a crystal ball, I would have waited a few more years to have more house AND a shorter mortgage, but that's life.

 

In some ways, it may have worked out for the best.  We didn't anticipate two more children or any of the many other things that cropped up in the past decade that would have made a 15 year mortgage a serious financial squeeze.

 

We were 28 when we bought the house, so we will be free and clear before retirement if we choose to stay.  Though I'd rather not stay.

[gardenmom5]

We live in an expensive area. A recent tear down sold for over $350k. Traffic is bad, but we have a great location.

The new houses on my street are easily twice ours.

[Guest]

I didn't have a choice about a 30-yr, but if I did have a choice, I would still pick a 30-yr. There's no penalty for prepayment, so I can choose how much to overpay instead of being locked into a certain amount that may or may not cause hardship down the line.

[Southern Ivy]

We rent right now.
Currently paying of student loans, so not quite ready to buy a home since we don't want to live in this area (staying here because it's close to my work and dh's, but dh will transfer to a different location when we move). When we are ready to buy, we will go with a 15 year mortgage. 

[Laura Corin]

Is there some benefit to this?  I'm asking because my dh is 53 and I'm wondering if I'm missing out on something.

 

 

It depends.  Do you have a repayment mortgage (where you pay both interest and principal, and at the end of the term, the house is yours, free and clear)?  If you have, and can meet your payments, there's no reason to extend the mortgage - better not to, so that your living costs drop when you are old.

 

We are in a different situation.  We have two interest-only mortgages, one on the house we live in and one on our rental property, both taken out with the expectation that we would make investments that would appreciate and allow us to pay off the mortgages.  Then Husband lost his job and is not earning (free-lance) at the rate he was before.

 

So now we are going to pay off the house we live in and extend the mortgage on the rental property.  We are only paying interest on that mortgage, which is much more than covered by the rental income.  Meanwhile, the property is appreciating nicely (it's in London).

 

When Husband reaches 75 or so, we will sell the London property and pay off the mortgage.  We will then have a lump sum to invest for our retirement.  Until then, we have an income from the property.

[Bluegoat]

I chose other.  Our mortgage is 20 years.  15 years would have been nice, but we have been squeezed because of a pension buy-back that takes a fair bit of change.  However, we will have that and the house paid of when dh retires.

 

We are in a less expensive area for our city, in a smaller house than most modern ones, though it is still a nice area by most standards.  If I worked, we probably could have had something a little nicer, but this location has some nice things and the house will work for us long-term if we want it to.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Ours is paid off. We had a 15 year mortgage when we had one. Housing costs here are reasonable and we " under bought".

[MomtoCandJ]

I voted other, we have a land contract that will be paid off by 2022 (that's the agreement date, so far we have knocked a year off of that because we sometimes make larger payments) When I go back to work in about 3 years (hopefully as a RN), we will be able to at least make one additional payment per month which will also pay it off sooner. When we decide to buy another house (we currently live in a 2 bedroom mobile home and would like a stick built house with 3 bedrooms) we will most likely get a 30 year but make larger than required payments. Our interest rate is at 7.?% and the total payment is $300 per month

[kitten18]

30 year mortgage by choice.

 

Our interest rate is around 3%, we're in no hurry to pay off the mortgage.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

For those of you who have a 30 year mortgage do you feel you had no choice? Was it the least expensive home you could (reasonably) stand to live in? Or did you go 30 year because you wanted a more expensive house?

 

We're in a HCOL area compared with the majority of the rest of the country. At the time, we really had limited choices. I was commuting by train several times a week and DH was driving about 40 minutes by car. We had to be somewhere that made that workable. We wanted a yard that was bigger than a postage stamp, we wanted more than 900 square feet of house, we wanted to be in a good school system (ha! little did we know), DH wanted to stay near his mom, and we wanted to not have to move again after three moves in five years. The only way to have those things in a less expensive market was to move further south in our state, and we couldn't because we were tethered by our jobs. So we took a 30-year figuring that we could refi later if we wanted to.

 

Of course, within a year, I was working from home entirely and DH was working a traveling sales job in the southern part of the state *sigh* But there was no way we could have known that going in. Then when we did refi to get a lower rate, we talked about going to a 15-year, but our combined income couldn't support the increase in monthly payment. We do still talk about it occasionally, but the last few years have been difficult financially, and now we have college coming up in a few years. I don't see how it's going to happen. 

 

I guess you could say we wanted a more expensive house. We could have chosen something in a worse neighborhood, or in a poor school system, or something smaller even than the NYC apartment DH grew up in, or I could have commuted two hours to work with a baby at home, etc. We could have made harder choices. But we certainly didn't end up in a McMansion. We have a rundown, 60-year-old, cookie-cutter bi-level in a neighborhood that's getting worse instead of better ( :glare:). Our property taxes are more than double to almost $9K a year after living here for 13 years (though, frankly, that is a major bargain compared with most of the rest of our state). We were approved for a bigger mortgage but instead stuck to (the top of) what we could realistically afford with a 30-year. 

 

On the upside, our town is making HUGE improvements, so I expect our property value to take a big jump in a few years. That will be a nice return on our investment if it happens!

[Scarlett]

We're in a HCOL area compared with the majority of the rest of the country. At the time, we really had limited choices. I was commuting by train several times a week and DH was driving about 40 minutes by car. We had to be somewhere that made that workable. We wanted a yard that was bigger than a postage stamp, we wanted more than 900 square feet of house, we wanted to be in a good school system (ha! little did we know), DH wanted to stay near his mom, and we wanted to not have to move again after three moves in five years. The only way to have those things in a less expensive market was to move further south in our state, and we couldn't because we were tethered by our jobs. So we took a 30-year figuring that we could refi later if we wanted to.

 

Of course, within a year, I was working from home entirely and DH was working a traveling sales job in the southern part of the state *sigh* But there was no way we could have known that going in. Then when we did refi to get a lower rate, we talked about going to a 15-year, but our combined income couldn't support the increase in monthly payment. We do still talk about it occasionally, but the last few years have been difficult financially, and now we have college coming up in a few years. I don't see how it's going to happen. 

 

I guess you could say we wanted a more expensive house. We could have chosen something in a worse neighborhood, or in a poor school system, or something smaller even than the NYC apartment DH grew up in, or I could have commuted two hours to work with a baby at home, etc. We could have made harder choices. But we certainly didn't end up in a McMansion. We have a rundown, 60-year-old, cookie-cutter bi-level in a neighborhood that's getting worse instead of better ( :glare:). Our property taxes are more than double to almost $9K a year after living here for 13 years (though, frankly, that is a major bargain compared with most of the rest of our state). We were approved for a bigger mortgage but instead stuck to (the top of) what we could realistically afford with a 30-year. 

 

On the upside, our town is making HUGE improvements, so I expect our property value to take a big jump in a few years. That will be a nice return on our investment if it happens!

 

 

I just don't get how people pay 9K a year in taxes.  Ours are less than 800.  Just blows my mind.

[Scarlett]

30 year mortgage by choice.

 

Our interest rate is around 3%, we're in no hurry to pay off the mortgage.

 

 

I guess I don't understand this mindset.  Take a look at the interest you will have paid out after 30 years.  Not to mention the principle payment.  

[EmseB]

We rent because we move every few years and I've owned before and don't want to deal with the hassle. Equity would be nice, but it's not a guarantee anymore and I just can handle the stress of property ownership that would involve being a landlord.

[Laura Corin]

I just don't get how people pay 9K a year in taxes.  Ours are less than 800.  Just blows my mind.

 

It depends what you get for it.  My local taxes include water and sewage, for example.

[Minerva]

I voted other. The house comes with the job. 

[redsquirrel]

I just don't get how people pay 9K a year in taxes.  Ours are less than 800.  Just blows my mind.

 

Well, salaries etc are commiserate. I know that more than half of my mortgage payment is taxes, so we pay over 9k a year in taxes.  But I live in an areas that has a strong tax base, a solid economy and the highest employment rate in the state.

 

If I moved out of town or one county over, I could buy a huge house, with acreage, for 50,000$.  But, how would we support ourselves? There aren't any jobs out there and the towns are half deserted.  And I don't see a need for dh to have a 90 min commute, when he can bike down the hill to get home.

[Scarlett]

Well, salaries etc are commiserate. I know that more than half of my mortgage payment is taxes, so we pay over 9k a year in taxes.  But I live in an areas that has a strong tax base, a solid economy and the highest employment rate in the state.

 

If I moved out of town or one county over, I could buy a huge house, with acreage, for 50,000$.  But, how would we support ourselves? There aren't any jobs out there and the towns are half deserted.  And I don't see a need for dh to have a 90 min commute, when he can bike down the hill to get home.

 

 

Oh I know.  I wasn't questioning your choice.  Just blown away by that high of taxes.  I would not want a 90 minute commute either.  Although dh drives 50 minutes but he is from LA and he thinks it is a piece of cake.  ;)

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

I just don't get how people pay 9K a year in taxes.  Ours are less than 800.  Just blows my mind.

 

Yep. It's pretty mind-blowing for us too! If we weren't tied here by DH's job and his family, I'd be out of here so fast the house would spin :lol: 

[Tsuga]

For those of you who have a 30 year mortgage do you feel you had no choice? Was it the least expensive home you could (reasonably) stand to live in? Or did you go 30 year because you wanted a more expensive house?

 

We rent but we'll be going 30 year mortgage.

 

The reason is that yes, we wanted a more expensive house. Not house, per se, but we want to live in the nice area in which we grew up, and house prices here are the third highest in the nation, just right behind New York and San Francisco. We did not move here. I live 45 minutes from the town in which I went to high school and my partner lives literally five minutes from his mom and his high school. His kids went to primary school 5 minutes from here; his ex-wife grew up here and has repeatedly stated that her intention in the long run is to buy here, and she has made a real effort to live here in spite of the cost. So, here it is. That's a choice, not resignation. We are incredibly fortunate to live so near family and that our families live in such a nice place.

 

It's really nice here.

 

 

 

I just don't get how people pay 9K a year in taxes.  Ours are less than 800.  Just blows my mind.

 

Well, think of it this way. Private school tuition for one child is about $15k per year in a parochial school, and much more in the really top schools. Say you have two kids. That's $30k minimum. OR you could do what we do and live in a really nice area where it's basically an education / quality living commune. We all pay a lot in taxes (though no income tax) and we pay in property taxes. In return, every single high school is in the state's top 10, and in the national top 500, a list which includes mostly lottery and choice schools--but our schools take every single child with an address in the district and provide full special needs services as per state and national law.

 

If you think about it that way, it makes a lot of sense to buy in a high COL area. In addition to excellent education, excellent parks and recreation, really nice neighbors (and not all rich, many were grandfathered into the neighborhood when it was cheaper), lots of green space around, and a 30 minute commute to a city with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country... we also save on education.

 

I could homeschool, but that would cost us--let's just say WAY more than $30k in private school fees.

 

So for us, pooling our funds into property taxes makes a ton of sense. It's very economical. We really enjoy living here and in this area.

 

As for 30 year rather than having all four kids share one room, which is all we could afford on a 15-year, well, housing prices here actually never dipped below 2000 level. Because it's nice. So we can sell. Hence, paying a 30-year on a house in a nice area makes sense since we can probably sell when we downsize after the kids leave the house.

 

I know a lot of people on this board simply don't like neighbors, don't join social clubs, don't send kids to school... all you need is the family. And if that were us, yes, we'd be insane not to move to county land and build a house and pay less.

 

But we really like other people and culture and the public sphere, so we pay a lot to be in a nice one.

 

Except right now we're renting because we've been waiting for a good opportunity. :)

[Scarlett]

So with 102  votes the 30 year mortgage is 40% of the votes.

 

 

[Mama Geek]

Our is paid off.  We paid off our last house which had a 30 year mortgage probably 20 years early and when we sold it we bought this one for cash.

[Scarlett]

We rent but we'll be going 30 year mortgage.

 

The reason is that yes, we wanted a more expensive house. Not house, per se, but we want to live in the nice area in which we grew up, and house prices here are the third highest in the nation, just right behind New York and San Francisco. We did not move here. I live 45 minutes from the town in which I went to high school and my partner lives literally five minutes from his mom and his high school. His kids went to primary school 5 minutes from here; his ex-wife grew up here and has repeatedly stated that her intention in the long run is to buy here, and she has made a real effort to live here in spite of the cost. So, here it is. That's a choice, not resignation. We are incredibly fortunate to live so near family and that our families live in such a nice place.

 

It's really nice here.

 

 

Well, think of it this way. Private school tuition for one child is about $15k per year in a parochial school, and much more in the really top schools. Say you have two kids. That's $30k minimum. OR you could do what we do and live in a really nice area where it's basically an education / quality living commune. We all pay a lot in taxes (though no income tax) and we pay in property taxes. In return, every single high school is in the state's top 10, and in the national top 500, a list which includes mostly lottery and choice schools--but our schools take every single child with an address in the district and provide full special needs services as per state and national law.

 

If you think about it that way, it makes a lot of sense to buy in a high COL area. In addition to excellent education, excellent parks and recreation, really nice neighbors (and not all rich, many were grandfathered into the neighborhood when it was cheaper), lots of green space around, and a 30 minute commute to a city with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country... we also save on education.

 

I could homeschool, but that would cost us--let's just say WAY more than $30k in private school fees.

 

So for us, pooling our funds into property taxes makes a ton of sense. It's very economical. We really enjoy living here and in this area.

 

As for 30 year rather than having all four kids share one room, which is all we could afford on a 15-year, well, housing prices here actually never dipped below 2000 level. Because it's nice. So we can sell. Hence, paying a 30-year on a house in a nice area makes sense since we can probably sell when we downsize after the kids leave the house.

 

I know a lot of people on this board simply don't like neighbors, don't join social clubs, don't send kids to school... all you need is the family. And if that were us, yes, we'd be insane not to move to county land and build a house and pay less.

 

But we really like other people and culture and the public sphere, so we pay a lot to be in a nice one.

 

Except right now we're renting because we've been waiting for a good opportunity. :)

 

 

I am definitely in the location location location club.  Thankfully the area of the country where I live is LCO even in the nicest areas.

[Scarlett]

There's no doubt that the 15 year mortgage is the better financial move... *IF* you can afford the monthly payments which are typically much higher per month than the 30 year mortgage. The thing is, many, many people don't have that much extra cash each month to pay that high monthly payment, so they opt for the 30 year mortgage instead.

 

 

I do understand that.  But what she said was they 'weren't worried about it since it was only 3%.'

[Carrie12345]

I just don't get how people pay 9K a year in taxes.  Ours are less than 800.  Just blows my mind.

 

 

It depends what you get for it.  My local taxes include water and sewage, for example.

 

Boo.

Our township taxes are fairly reasonable, but school taxes are nearly $3,000.  We don't get water or sewage or paid emergency services other than regional police.  AND we pay dues for community roads/trash/security/amenities.

But we're also from a much higher tax area.

[Pawz4me]

We have about 12 years left on a 15 year mortgage.  We could pay it off today (and could have done so a couple of years ago).  Since our mortgage rate is only a smidge above 3 percent and our investments average earning significantly more than that, it wouldn't make any sense at all financially to pay it off now,  Plus given the housing ups and downs of the past eight years or so, I'm not sure I want to have any more money tied up in a house than necessary.

[Scarlett]

On 100,000 at 3% total interest would be 27473 more on a 30 year note than on a 15.

 

Payment would be $269 more per month.  

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

I guess I don't understand this mindset.  Take a look at the interest you will have paid out after 30 years.  Not to mention the principle payment.  

 

If you invest well, you can earn far more than the 3% APR you pay on your mortgage. Or you can put that money into home improvements and improve the overall value on your house. Or you can just accept that that's the cost of getting to live the life you want (no stress over how make ends meet each month, lessons, family vacations, etc.).

 

I had a job paying nearly $70K a year that I quit to be home with my kids. I know some people who can't understand why I'd do that instead of buying a bigger house. Even now that things are tight, I spend an extra couple hundred dollars a month on mostly organic/natural/unprocessed food instead of couponing like I know I can (I've done it) but getting mostly junk for almost free. I could be putting that extra money into prepaying our mortgage, but eating healthfully is important to me. Like I mentioned, we could have bought a smaller home if we'd wanted to, and gotten the 15-year mortgage, but we wanted some different things. I think it's just one of those things that falls under "different financial priorities." 

[TammyS]

We rent because we move every few years and I've owned before and don't want to deal with the hassle. Equity would be nice, but it's not a guarantee anymore and I just can handle the stress of property ownership that would involve being a landlord.

 

We own our home, but I totally get what you're saying.  We are unlikely to move, so long-term equity is pretty much a sure thing for us.  But my dh is much older, and I imagine a day will come in the future where he will be either gone or infirm, and I will decide to move into a place where I can just call the landlord when something breaks.  I've seen a lot of houses go to trash because older folks or single women live in them (people who can't do the repairs themselves and can't afford to call a pro), and people just get overwhelmed with the work/expense of maintaining a home. These people worked their whole lives to own the house, but they end up losing the equity anyway when they can't keep up the house.  Hopefully when I get to that point, I'll be able to see it and move myself into a rental of some kind.

[Scarlett]

If you invest well, you can earn far more than the 3% APR you pay on your mortgage. Or you can put that money into home improvements and improve the overall value on your house. Or you can just accept that that's the cost of getting to live the life you want (no stress over how make ends meet each month, lessons, family vacations, etc.).

 

I had a job paying nearly $70K a year that I quit to be home with my kids. I know some people who can't understand why I'd do that instead of buying a bigger house. Even now that things are tight, I spend an extra couple hundred dollars a month on mostly organic/natural/unprocessed food instead of couponing like I know I can (I've done it) but getting mostly junk for almost free. I could be putting that extra money into prepaying our mortgage, but eating healthfully is important to me. Like I mentioned, we could have bought a smaller home if we'd wanted to, and gotten the 15-year mortgage, but we wanted some different things. I think it's just one of those things that falls under "different financial priorities." 

 

 

Yes, I understand 'different financial priorities'.  I too gave up my job 15 years ago to raise my son.  

 

I guess I didn't read her comment like everyone else, because it seemed like she felt the debt was 'no big deal'.

 

A lot of why I am thinking about all of this right now is that we are trying to decide whether to get a mortgage on this house.  I don't think we would go higher than $40 but I also want it to be enough to fix EVERYTHING we want.  So yeah, a lot of thinking going on.  

[Pawz4me]

If you invest well, you can earn far more than the 3% APR you pay on your mortgage.

 

Yep.

[Scarlett]

If you invest well, you can earn far more than the 3% APR you pay on your mortgage. 

 

 

If investments go well.  

 

And this point illustrates to me that I am on the emotional side of home ownership.

[FaithManor]

10 year mortgage paid off 3 years ago.

[Tsuga]

If you invest well, you can earn far more than the 3% APR you pay on your mortgage. Or you can put that money into home improvements and improve the overall value on your house. Or you can just accept that that's the cost of getting to live the life you want (no stress over how make ends meet each month, lessons, family vacations, etc.).

 

Yeah, the idea that our kids would not have music lessons, sports, no vacations, etc. all so we could be financially responsible... and then what about their futures, their lives? We'll take a smaller house and a longer mortgage with its later retirement so the kids can have their childhood.

 

And $30k over 30 years is nothing when you think of how much it's worth it to us to live in a nice area with upward mobility. It's totally an investment in our children's lives.

[redsquirrel]

Oh I know.  I wasn't questioning your choice.  Just blown away by that high of taxes.  I would not want a 90 minute commute either.  Although dh drives 50 minutes but he is from LA and he thinks it is a piece of cake.   ;)

 

I should also add that the vast majority of my taxes go to the school district.  The school district here has a good reputation, and if you want to attract employees then you need to have good public schools.  However, I also suspect that a lot of that money is for pensions and health care costs. But it does offer a lot more than the surrounding school districts do, like many AP classes, lots of different levels of classes, an excellent science department (science is expensive) etc.  robotics clubs that travel to compete, academic competition teams that travel, etc. It could be better, of course, and I have been told for all that it offers and expects, it doesn't pay teachers well compared to surrounding areas. But, it something that people who move here comment on. They had their choice of where to go and the lovely geography and 'good schools' is a huge, huge draw. That is not something to take for granted.

 

So, the taxes go for schools, which in turn help attract residents, who get good paying jobs,  who are then taxed for schools.

 

But, when I read here about what some school systems are like, both at the local and state level, I find myself not complaining about the taxes.