Friday, 8. April 2011
I will be living in the second house when I am working at my job and go to my original home for my days off.
If it is not tax deductible, is there any tax breaks for being forced to move away from my home because the economy is much worse there than the average (according to media and government reports).
Monday, 21. February 2011
My husband is not doing very well in his job, as it is tied directly to the economy. He is starting to panic about money, and informed me we will need to refinace a fixed 15 yr morgage (to which I only have about 9 years left to pay on) to a 30 year morgage and incorporate a 9,000 home equity loan that will be paid off in 2 years and also a 9,000 car payment scheduled to be paid off in 3 years. Our old interest rate is 5.62% and the new one will be higher at 6.375% And the real kicker with both my husband and I credit scores over 800 my bank is charging me over ,000 in refi fees. My husband thinks it is a good deal, but something is telling me this is not so. I suggested to him we cash in some iras to pay off the car and home equity, since we seem to be losing money on them anyway as they are tied to the market. If I do so my old payment will only be about 0 more than the new payment. I think we should hold off, especially since his child support will end in less than 4 mos
Tuesday, 15. February 2011
In this day and shrinking economy, is suing your home eqity as yoru business fund a good idea? I know for a fact that most if not all banks are afraid to lend anyone a home equity line credit due to the housing value has sunk below sea level, but trying to get much funds as possible to use that fund toward your business. Good idea? Bad iea?
Monday, 31. January 2011
In our family we have a home worth about .000 its paid off, I am suggesting we take .000 of the equity and reinvest in another property to be used as a rental only, how can I get a home equity loan with the present economy with excellent credit and low income.
I have a place in mind, an area, and have done my homework other than applying.
What do you think?
Monday, 24. January 2011
Chase will be raising their minimum payments from 2% to 5% in August. My wife and I had consolidated all our debt onto one card with them for one low lifetime of the loan rate at 3.9%. Well, they’ve raised it to 4.9%, and now want to raise the minimum payment. This takes the over 10K that we have on the loan from a montly payment of a little over 0 to over 0. It’s like we bought a new car, having this increase. We had been paying about 0 a month to slowly pay this loan off and get off credit card debt forever, but now we are in trouble. I can’t get a home equity loan due to our house is worth less than we owe. I could get a (what’s it called) non-secure loan, but the rate will probably be much higher than the rate I’m paying now. Don’t know about the minimum payment due on that, and I don’t know what approval is like in this economy. I do have a credit rating over 700. HERE IS THE MAIN QUESTION: Should I take money out of my 401K for this? I don’t know how this would work tax-wise. I also have 5K saved up for a new driveway. The driveway is almost destroyed, but I might just have to suck it up and use it in the state it’s in. I could take that money and pay off half the loan, and then the minimum payments I make would stay the same. But with a 401k loan, won’t the interest go back to me, into the 401K account? I really NEED, not want, the new driveway, because I won’t be able to shovel it in the winter in the condition it’s in, and I live in New England. But if the 401K is not a good option, I may be out of options. Sorry for the length, any advice? Oh, I called Chase. The rep was full of sympathy and suggested I try to move the loan elsewhere.
I’m sure buying Nike sneakers might help.
Thanks for your advice, both ladies so far. Just so you know, we don’t use the credit card, and do have a monthly budget. We unfortuately bought a home (a small one) before we could afford it. We wouldn’t have been approved in this day and age. Rather than foreclose like some people did, I noticed our credit card debt going higher and higher, and did a budget. I’ve been working two or three jobs the last few years, and we make more than we spend now. We’ve greatly reduced our debt. We planned to be rid of this in two years, but this minimum payment thing will be tough to weather. We don’t spend much at all, this additional payment is going to make it worse.
Friday, 14. January 2011
First, I am not a socialist. Normally.
Second, I think that I have a plan that would resolve the mortgage and credit crises and leave everyone a winner.
1. Government buys up bad mortgate debt (already happening).
2. Government buys up good mortgate debt at the borrower’s option (if they want to participtate in this plan I have).
3. Government turns over to everyone a title, free and clear, of their home property.
4. Government imposes a tax of 50% of the typical mortgage payment the borrower had. This tax lasts until the principal (not principal + interest) is paid off. Note: for folks who were on floating interest rate loans, we’d pinpoint the standard payment before things went crazy, then make them pay 50% of that.
Why this all works. A typical mortgage is 30 years and you end up paying about 3 times the price of your home, if you count the interest. If you could pay 50% of your monthly payment over 20 years, you’d cover the principal portion of your loan and still have plenty of cash left over to reduce other debt or to make new purchases.
Think about it. Say your mortage payment is ,000 per month and finances are real tight (you might have credit card debt too). If someone handed you your title and you took on a 20 year tax commitment of paying ,000 per month, then not only would you have equity, but if you stayed in your home you would have the other ,000 you used to pay in your mortgate freed up for other things.
Is this socialist? Yep, a little bit, but perhaps a necessary move, a one-time event, to clean this mess up.
If you hear either candidate propose something like this, you heard it from Mr. Freedom first.
Think this might work? Thoughts?
Matthew, I think this plan would kick the nation’s economy into high gear and more than pay for itself over time. While I understand your point about folks being fiscally responsible, I do think that once in awhile, we need to "stand all the pieces on the chessboard back up."
No, I think a clause is that if you sell your house, proceeds must satisfy your personal tax debt first. So you might walk away owning nothing and owing nothing.
Tuesday, 7. December 2010
The first mortgage is ARM with fixed-rate for 5 years and the second mortgage is Heloc. There are no prepayment penalties to either mortgages if we refinance at any time after close. I’m told that the prime rate will NOT be going up anytime soon–that more than anything the prime rate will go down because of the slump in the economy. Should I go ahead with this type of mortgage? Thank you.
I understand the part about the ARM and HELOC being risky and that is why we plan to refinance after 2 or 3 months because there is no prepayment penalties on either mortgage. The house I’m interested in is a quick move-in so the price is about k less than the base price of the same house being built. I guess what I’m really asking is how everyone else sees and predicts the prime rate will go in the next few months? Thank you for the responses so far.
Monday, 6. December 2010
I am excited about the Govt’s recent activity to save my home fron recession….It would be easy to be the Fed chairman job..all you have to do is move rates lower when the economy looks flat lined and raise them while everything is going great. Anyway, now that the Govt has dropped the interest rate by a half percent, how long will it take until it gets easy again to refinance and lower the mortgage payment? I think the good days are back and homes should start building equity again. it should also be easy to get credit cards now that homes will shoot back up. Can I get some equity money at cheap rates going forward? After all, if the banks get loans for less cost, then we can expect this rate cut automatically…I can’t wait, I want to shop til I drop and will put the goods on my CCard so I can pay later., I love free/cheap money!…lots of deals still out there.