Better To Move Homes Or Jobs?

[kronin323]

I just bought a house it was more because it was good price and worked for what I need right now. Plus 15 year, 3.25%, not a bad deal. I didn't even look at other houses. I plan to be at this job 2-5 years, probably closer to 5, but I don't see myself staying here (home or work) for a whole lot longer than that. Plus, buying the house was a whole lot cheaper than renting, it's an investment, and now I have some equity.

A guy your age buying a house with a 15 year mortgage is quite an accomplishment. Variable of fixed?

And yes, equity is nice, assuming we don't have another bubble burst and people end upside down again. Overall I consider home ownership to be much better than renting, but there are some "gotchas" that can be an unpleasant surprise, especially if you escrow.

 

[qtrain23]

A guy your age buying a house with a 15 year mortgage is quite an accomplishment. Variable of fixed?

And yes, equity is nice, assuming we don't have another bubble burst and people end upside down again. Overall I consider home ownership to be much better than renting, but there are some "gotchas" that can be an unpleasant surprise, especially if you escrow.

Fixed rate. My mortgage payments with my tax escrowed is <600 a month. And I'm in a 3 bedroom, 2000 sq ft, 2 car garage, and a 1k sq ft basement.

And I'm sure. But I trust my banker. And I make decent money. I will survive!

 

[kronin323]

Fixed rate. My mortgage payments with my tax escrowed is <600 a month. And I'm in a 3 bedroom, 2000 sq ft, 2 car garage, and a 1k sq ft basement.

And I'm sure. But I trust my banker. And I make decent money. I will survive!

That's good - Some people get drawn in by lower rates for a variable rate and then have to stay longer than planned and get nailed once the variable rate kicked in.

But here's a warning with escrow - it can make your payments fluctuate even more than rent increases. Here's what happened to me once:

Escrow is only guessing what your tax and insurance will be. If they overestimate, sweet! But if they underestimate... first they tacked on an extra monthly amount to make up for the shortfall from the previous year. Then the actual escrow amount went up, because obviously the earlier amount wasn't enough. And here was the real BS - since they underestimated before, there was the possibility that the new escrow amount would be underestimated again. So they tacked on YET ANOTHER extra monthly amount to cover THE POTENTIAL of another shortfall, just in case. Bottom line, my monthly mortgage with escrow payments increased like 45% in one year. It balanced out a few years later but that really hurt for a while. Now we don't escrow and just save money for taxes and insurance independently.

BTW, I really wish I had a basement...

 

[kronin323]

Considering maybe buying a new house to stay in, with more space, etc than we have now but don't want to move again after that.

If you're in it for the long term, there's a trick that can save you thousands, if your mortgage allows it.

Basically you make half-mortgage payments every two weeks. That adds up to 26 half-payments a year, or 13 full month payments in a 12 month period. And, while a big chunk of your normal mortgage payment goes towards interest, that extra payment goes 100% against the principle. In the long run you pay off your mortgage years earlier and save a whole bunch in interest while you're doing it. Highly recommended if you can afford the extra payment.