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Lolcano Eruption posted:I currently rent in a high rise in downtown Austin with monthly cost of approximately $2.7K/mo. I figured that since I'm having a good time, I would enjoy urban living when I move back to Houston as well. Holy crap, that's how much those cost? I drive past those all the time and wondered how much they cost to live in.
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Apr 4, 2012 18:21
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Lolcano Eruption posted:I currently rent in a high rise in downtown Austin with monthly cost of approximately $2.7K/mo. I figured that since I'm having a good time, I would enjoy urban living when I move back to Houston as well. Sounds like The Rent is Too drat High. Seriously, if you like an urban life style read that and weep, or help do something about it. Austin is going through this right now, and Houston is working on parking minimums even.
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Apr 4, 2012 19:02
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Ugh, it looks like since prices in my area dropped I would have to apply about 3k to the principal of my loan before refinancing, which means the break even point would be almost seven years away. I'm thinking this isn't totally worth it for a 1% reduction in rate (5.125 to 4.125)
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Apr 4, 2012 21:52
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How bad does it hurt you to have recently moved? My wife and I can't wait to get out of this shithole apartment but I'm worried it might affect our ability to borrow. Also, just running the quick numbers, it sure looks like PMI is really not all that bad. We could easily afford 10% down plus closing costs right now without dipping into our savings or retirement funds. If we were to buy tomorrow (not happening, we haven't even gone to get pre-qualified yet and I've only been in my job 10 months) it appears the total amount of PMI we would pay on a $300,000 house would be about equal to 7-8 months' rent. It's probably a bad line of thinking but it really would be nice to have a house. I also don't want to get screwed by moving from this apartment too soon before we start looking to buy
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Apr 5, 2012 07:35
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I closed Tuesday at 3:30pm. I had only been living in my most recent apartment since last May, and I had moved here straight out of school. So....that was just over 10 months in one place at CLOSING, but when I was approved for the loan I had only been in the place about 7 months. I think being current is the biggest deal. PMI is very expensive. I'll have to pull my docs out to double check, but my principle and interest payments are about 850 a month. My PMI, RE Tax, and Insurance puts me up to 1200. I think out of that difference about $150 is PMI. For me it was worth the difference (paid 1200 in rent, but get a fenced backyard, 400+ more square feet, garage now), but PMI is very much a pain in the rear end part of the note. One thing I learned about FHA loans is that regardless of your LTV ratio, unless you put 20% down you'll pay a minimum of 5 years worth of PMI... that's a bummer. 
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Apr 5, 2012 13:53
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If possible, I don't think we'll be going through FHA. My understanding is that if you have at least 5% down it's better to avoid them, is that incorrect? IF we got mortgage insurance we'd be up to 20% in under 2 years. The question is, then, would we get a non-FHA loan if I've only been in my joba year, but my wife has for over 5 years? Also, how on earth do they expect you to pay mortgage insurance for 5 years if youget a 15 year loan?
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Apr 5, 2012 15:49
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Time in your job probably won't matter, they might want your old tax returns to confirm income though. I just went through a refi after being in a new job for less than 2 weeks.
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Apr 5, 2012 15:50
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I made less than half as much at my old job, which was seasonal Also, does it hurt to be living (or have lived) in a Section 8 building? When we moved in this place was billed as 'luxury apartments' because it's a block from the state capitol. Weidner Apartment Homes has since bought the building, raised the rent, killed the maintenance and filled the place up with subsidized tenants.
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Apr 5, 2012 16:14
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They really don't give a poo poo where you've been living. What they care about is what's on your credit report; so if your landlord reported you as being 30-days past due, that'd be a big problem. Otherwise you're just going to disclose what your current rent payment is and that's that. Your cash and savings (including retirement accounts, even if you have no intention of tapping them), credit rating, debt-to-income ratios, longevity at current jobs, and of course your total income; those are the things that matter the most. On your credit report, negative items having to do with being late or failing to make payments matter the most: other stuff matters, but not as much.
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Apr 5, 2012 22:00
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Does everyone in realty only respond to threats? I gave the listing agent a release of contract form, and they asked for 24 hours. I said sure, who cares? Fuckers are apparently done negotiating the owner's liens and says the negotiator will have acceptance of my offer early next week. do never deal with realtors, realty lawyers, or dead beats.
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Apr 5, 2012 23:02
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Advent Horizon posted:If possible, I don't think we'll be going through FHA. My understanding is that if you have at least 5% down it's better to avoid them, is that incorrect? Its harder to get qualified at a reasonable rate for a conventional loan than FHA, even if you have the minimum 5% required. Personally, my wife and I both have credit scores ranging from 700-740 and we got a much better rate with FHA than conventional, even taking into account PMI and everything. Can't answer the length of time deal, but in my situation (again, FHA) we qualified for our loan (4% w/ $2000 of lender paid closing costs) being in our jobs for 10 months. If you have a collegiate degree, sending them transcripts counted as employment for your professional job, though, so I had 5 years of Engineering experience and my wife 5 years of consulting (even though we had only been working for 10 months). I think they're mostly looking for the fact that you'll have a steady income (or as likely to be as possible).
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Apr 6, 2012 00:06
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Advent Horizon posted:If possible, I don't think we'll be going through FHA. My understanding is that if you have at least 5% down it's better to avoid them, is that incorrect? If you had good credit, yes. I was able to get 5% down, 1% one time PMI paid at closing (no monthly PMI) - which obviously destroys FHA requirements. Look for local mortgage companies that plan on flipping on your loan immediately as opposed to big banks (your loan is going to end up at a big bank anyway). Keep in mind that pretty soon FHA rates are going up AGAIN (to 1.75%) with yearly PMI of 1.25%. Over the first five years of ownership that's literally ~6% of the value of the home you are pissing down the drain compared to the mortgage I received. Unless you have lovely credit I really see no reason to go FHA anymore; the origination fee and MIP have just risen way too much.
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Apr 6, 2012 00:38
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We both have steady jobs and good credit so that should be fine. We also won't be doing any sort of actual looking until our lease is up in September, which coincides with our last credit card application coming off our reports (we did those to make sure we had a good history well in advance of buying a place and for the rewards - we pay in full every month). We are also both in love with a place for sale right now and we'd rather do this the right way and let it slip away so we don't do something stupid. I cannot wait to get out of this place. I'm sitting on the toilet and the bathroom (which does not have a fan) is filling with cigarette smoke. Neither of us smoke and this was a non-smoking building when we moved in. I suspect it's coming through because the living room windows are open due to the exterminator coming today to deal with the cockroaches (which are not native to Alaska). They're breeding in the central wall because a pipe was leaking for 5 months and they kept telling us the problem was fixed. We both see buying a home being an investment in health and sanity instead of monetary assets.
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Apr 6, 2012 01:19
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FHA 5 year arms are way better than conventionals though. Also, you will not be paying MIP for 5 years on a 15 year loan if you hit 78 percent LTV
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Apr 6, 2012 03:53
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skipdogg posted:Holy crap, that's how much those cost? I drive past those all the time and wondered how much they cost to live in. I really do feel like renting right now is throwing money away. Is all that stuff in the OP still true if you are able to buy a house/condo without having to deal with mortgages? The reason I'm asking is I'm in the process of selling one of my businesses and I think that setting aside some of this money to buy a condo would not be an awful decision since I could technically rent it out or sell it for hopefully at least what I bought it for.
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Apr 6, 2012 05:15
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Lolcano Eruption posted:I really do feel like renting right now is throwing money away. Is all that stuff in the OP still true if you are able to buy a house/condo without having to deal with mortgages? The reason I'm asking is I'm in the process of selling one of my businesses and I think that setting aside some of this money to buy a condo would not be an awful decision since I could technically rent it out or sell it for hopefully at least what I bought it for. If you can afford to buy something cash, do whatever the gently caress you want dude. I have 2 concerns though: 1: You're looking at 1BR condos in downtown areas right? Well I personally just don't see much demand for them. Your target demographic is going to be a single working professional, making really good money, or possibly a young career orientated couple. You can't really have a family or do much in a 1BR high rise condo, and they cost a ton of money so your renting pool is very diminished. 2: Remember real estate transactions have tons of costs and fees built into them. You're looking at 4 to 5% probably at purchase, and 6 to 10% when you sell it. Up to 15% of the value of the property is "thrown away" by buying and selling it. Then add up the HOA/Condo fees as well. That money is all "thrown away" as well. I understand the "throwing money away" feeling...but I like to see renting as an option. You can live in that high rise for a year, rent it at a premium, but you get to leave when you want without dealing with all the headache of buying/selling real estate. You're also protected from things like HOA fee increases as if you're renting that's the owners problem. If your in the middle of your lease he can't just jack your rent because the association needs an extra 100 a month to repave the parking lot or something. Just for fun, I looked some stuff up. For this example I'll use a 1BR 641 sq ft condo at the W Austin Residences. Now these will be general numbers, but it's more in just an exercise in how to look at things. Let's say we want to live downtown for 2 years in a luxury high rise. A 1BR unit at the W, leases for 2950 a month according to some website I found. I assume this includes the 385 dollar a month association fee. Say we sign a 2 year lease. Total cost to live in that condo for 2 years is 70,800 dollars. At the end of 2 years, you pack your stuff up and leave. That's it. Condo relationship over. Hell for the sake of argument say rent goes up 5% the second year to 3100 a month. We're still only paying 72,600 dollars over 2 years. Now a similar condo of the same size in the same building is listed for sale at 405K. Say we want to purchase that condo instead of renting it from someone else. First off lets just assume about 4% of the condo's cost in closing fees and other bullshit when you actually buy the place. That's 16.2K in just fees to buy the place. Assuming 20% down, the Principal and Interest on a 325K 30 year mortgage at 4.5% interest is about 1640 dollars. Now at this point we've put 81,000 dollars down, and committed to 1640 in principal and interest payments. Association fees are 385 dollars a month, and lets not forget Texas' property tax rates of appx 2.6% a year. Property taxes alone will run you 10.5K a year. The monthly breakdown on our mortgage payment is going to be 1640 in P&I, 385 Association fee, and 877 in property taxes. Monthly payment looks to be right at 2902 dollars. Now lets look at our total cost of ownership over 2 years. 16,200 in closing costs at purchase 9,240 in Association fees for the building 21,000 in property taxes 39,360 in principal and interest. ---------------------- 85,800 dollars over 2 years. Now here's something interesting to think about. Out of that 85,800 dollars we just paid to BUY the condo, only about 9,000 dollars actually went to pay down the principal of the 325,000 dollar mortgage we still have on the unit. Mortgage balance is around 315,xxx right now. We still 'threw away' over 74,000 dollars living there. Now selling the place could cost you anywhere from 6 to 10% depending if the buyer asks you to kick in for closing costs. Let's just assume a standard 6% though. Say you sell at 425,000... well you're paying 25,500 in commission just to sell the place. Kicks your TCO up over 110,000 dollars for 2 years. But SKIP! I'll just keep the place and rent it out!.. Ok. Look at the numbers again. Your costs are 2902 a month right now. The W might raise the association fee, property taxes might go up another tenth, all we know is costs aren't going to go down are they? So lets just say your costs are 2900 a month, and you can rent for 3100 a month. You've got 96,000 dollars tied up in closing costs and a down payment on this place for what... a 200 dollar a month profit in rent? One month of the condo being unoccupied would destroy 14 months of 'profit' by renting. God forbid the condo is empty for 2 or more months. That 96,000 dollars would serve you much better in tax advantaged retirement accounts, mutal funds, or whatever investment vehicles tickle your fancy. You're basically tying up all that money for a best case return of what... 2%? Obviously the numbers get a little better the longer you stay in the condo, but I don't know many people who are going to stay in a 1BR condo for more than 5 years tops. You'll eventually find a partner, maybe start a family, or whatever. You'll eventually need more space. Now none of this might apply to you, but you would be an exception to the rule. But then again, if you can buy a 400K condo cash money, do whatever the gently caress you want.
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Apr 6, 2012 06:16
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That seems to me like a lot of money for a 1 bedroom, I'm not sure what kind of luxury unit it would have to be to justify that kind of rent/sale price. I'm also not sure what kind of salary a single young professional would need to be able to afford that, and how many people there are that can afford that kind of price. I guess the rent really is too drat high.
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Apr 6, 2012 06:26
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FISHMANPET posted:That seems to me like a lot of money for a 1 bedroom, I'm not sure what kind of luxury unit it would have to be to justify that kind of rent/sale price. I'm also not sure what kind of salary a single young professional would need to be able to afford that, and how many people there are that can afford that kind of price. These are super luxury high rise condos in Downtown Austin. I think the W Residences is one of those hybrid hotel/condo/shopping buildings with 24/7 concierge and all that fun stuff. Definitely not a normal place for most folks to live. If he's paying 2750 a month in rent, I'm assuming he's staying in one of the similar developments in Downtown Austin. It's the only thing I could find that had similar numbers last night. I don't think people with a normal salary can afford things like this. You would have be clearing at least 180K a year to comfortably live in a place like that which tends to be a well paid executive salary, or some kind of entrepreneur
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Apr 6, 2012 14:51
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$130k wouldn't be unreasonable of a personal income for me to swing for a $2.5k / month rent with the wife paying for nothing (comparable to taxes of being single being my point). Texas doesn't have state income tax and that can make it a bit easier as well. However, Austin being in Texas and having lower salaries overall comparably, $130k in Texas would be like $230k / yr here in northern Virginia... but northern Virginia has a crapton of $200k+ earning households while I'd guess that in Austin you'd be likely to have someone in the oil / energy business. If you're not blinking at $2500+ / mo to pay for a place by yourself and only yourself and can pay for a $400k+ place with cash you're hardly in the realm of "normal" income or means anymore. Go ahead and blow whatever you want on luxuries at that point, you hardly qualify for any tax deductions aimed at the middle class anymore anyway (you wouldn't be able to contribute to a Roth IRA, for example). Much of the thread has made it an explicit point that your primary house is almost certainly a poor investment vehicle compared to anything else you could do with that money.
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Apr 6, 2012 15:12
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Just to reiterate on what others have said: Buying a house and renting it out is a Bad Idea™... unless it is fully/mostly paid for. While there are certainly markets out there right this instant where you can turn around and rent a house for more than your mortgage payment, there is no guarantee this will last, and there is no guarantee the excess money you generate will cover your expense in case you get a bad tenant or the place sits empty for a month or two. Right now, my landlord hates me because I have the audacity to want the HVAC and washing machine fixed that apparently deteriorated over the 6 months the place sat empty before I moved in. It is obvious this place has become an albatross around their neck and it is in a great location in the glorious NOVA market. I, who has never had an issue with a landlord ever, am now going to have to take legal action against my landlord and things are going to get much worse for them. But, if you have the cash, just do whatever the gently caress you want. It makes sense that renting would probably be throwing your money away in this situation because you can live in a place and only pay taxes. That is a luxury that 75% or so people in this country will likely never have until retirement, and with current trends, probably not even then. Admittedly this is because a lot of people believe in a "housing ladder" that they must climb.
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Apr 6, 2012 15:27
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I think stuff like broken appliances falls under stuff that you're basically out of luck on because the state just doesn't want to deal with People's Court issues more or less rather than personal safety and well-being issues. Had a very similar problem with my landlord for the past year and that's the only way to get them to do anything without getting a full-blown lawsuit over $600 washer & dryers (that I think did the opposite of what they were supposed to do). I think the HVAC in my place basically didn't work (I'd put my hands over the vents and I'd get room-temp air blowing in regardless of season) and I just Lived With It. When I moved out I had to get the stupid air ducts cleaned because I had two cats. Never had to do it before until now. The guy told me the HVAC had mold in it and the coil is basically fried, so I don't think the place will pass inspection and be an even bigger pain in the rear end because the landlord put the place up for sale the day after I moved out. Sucks that I had to pay double rent of $1k wasted for a place I won't be even living in but that's small fries compared to the pains of having to replace an old HVAC and ducts older than myself. The real sick part is dealing with security deposits and the first couple months of rent at the same time. I wound up writing about $7k worth of checks within 5 days of each other and they slammed together on my checking account I normally keep under $10k and made me awful nervous some other random bullshit $2k check I wrote would be drafted. Now I'm waiting on $3k in security deposit to come back and I might have to sue my old landlord for it but may not even get that because he just might declare bankruptcy. I'll add a corollary to the mantra of this thread: DO NEVER RENT FROM BROKEASS MOTHERFUCKERS. With so many distressed properties around still, this can be harder than it sounds like, but I found a great landlord that's had the house paid off for a long time and has been a landlord for 10+ years already. ===== This is for Virginia law but may be applicable for other states in some respects. Virginia tends to side with landlords more as opposed to, say, Massachusetts. But HVACs not working is something that landlords are legally obligated to remedy under state law and you can hit them where it hurts without actually suing them. http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/consumers/f-landlord.shtml quote:Q: My landlord refuses to repair anything. What can I do to get things repaired? http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/consumer/tenant/tenant_landlord_faqs.htm#question12 quote:We have no heat or hot water. The landlord hasn't fixed the problem even after many phone messages. What can I do? For general condition of a place including many facilities, Virginia sides with the landlord mostly: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/consumer/tenant/tenant_landlord_faqs.htm#question13 quote:I rented an older apartment because the landlord said it would be all fixed up and very nice to live in. There is no new paint or carpets, the air conditioner is noisy, there is no microwave, and the tile is very old. How can I make the landlord improve these things?
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Apr 6, 2012 20:14
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Yeah, the HVAC is broken (room temp air) and the washing machine is mixing hot in with the cold when on the Cold Cold setting. I notified the property management company back in February, and they told me the owner refuses to repair. The moment I insisted that I was going to start taking action (draft a letter), I get an email from the property manager that the owner has 'fired' them effective immediately and that I am to start sending rent checks to a new address in San Diego. gently caress that noise, I am in the process of talking to a lawyer. At the very least, they can advise me what steps to take and draft a few letters for me. For what I am paying to live in this place, the lawyers fees seem like small potatoes to make sure I do everything right.
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Apr 6, 2012 20:29
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I'm curious: who's on your rental contract, the property management company or the landlord?
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Apr 6, 2012 20:53
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Splizwarf posted:I'm curious: who's on your rental contract, the property management company or the landlord? Owner is named Landlord, but their information is not included in the lease other than their name, and property manager is Landlord Agent. Later in the lease, it says Virginia law requires non-resident landlords to have an Agent with offices in the state. So I have no idea what is going on. Edit: Also, the lease states that the HVAC and washing machine must be repaired and maintained at the landlord's expense and are not provided in 'as-is' condition. Further, it states that I am not allowed to repair or replace any appliance without owner permission. A landlord friend who is not a legal expert has advised me to seek legal advice because he feels the owner has broken the lease on multiple counts and they may be seeking to stall putting any more money into the place. So, that is what I am doing. archangelwar fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Apr 6, 2012 |
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Apr 6, 2012 20:58
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So tell me if this is a good or bad plan. I'm getting out of the military next year and I should have $50-60k in savings. I plan on going to graduate school in a college town with a lot of jobs in my field of study, a large metro area within a reasonable commute, and is in a location that I could happily live for a very long time. So I'm looking at ~3 bedroom houses, which go for about $250,000-$275,000 in this area. My GI Bill would pay ~1400 per month, which could cover the mortgage (except for the summer months), but I'd be a bit short after HOA, insurance, and taxes. So the only way this would be feasible is if I were to rent out the other rooms for ~1000 per month, until after I graduated and went back to work. Since it's a college town, I imagine there would always be tenants available for at least 9 months of the year. I would likely use a VA loan to not make a downpayment and keep my cash for emergencies, such as summers without tenants and maintenance. Is relying on having tenants in a college town too risky, even if you're living with them?
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Apr 6, 2012 21:30
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scavok posted:
I would say 'yes.' College kids are notoriously bad tenants, and it would be doubly bad to be stuck with bad tenants in your own home. However, would you really be able to qualify for a loan without a primary job as income (only GI bill)?
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Apr 6, 2012 21:34
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archangelwar posted:Owner is named Landlord, but their information is not included in the lease other than their name, and property manager is Landlord Agent. Later in the lease, it says Virginia law requires non-resident landlords to have an Agent with offices in the state. So I have no idea what is going on. If I were you I'd verify that your landlord is on the other end of the mail. A disgruntled just-fired property manager is possibly not the best person to tell you the new address you should send big checks to monthly. On a related note, exactly this happened to us, except the property manager never said anything. However, since our landlord never said anything to us either, getting two rent checks out of his former property manager was his problem. If the property manager no longer works for your landlord, the onus is on him to get in touch with you immediately. It's lucky happenstance that the property manager's nice enough to say something. I realize that you're apt to be more proactive than just waiting for him to think of it, but that should be a point on your tally sheet when you interact with him on later issues. archangelwar posted:Edit: Also, the lease states that the HVAC and washing machine must be repaired and maintained at the landlord's expense and are not provided in 'as-is' condition. Further, it states that I am not allowed to repair or replace any appliance without owner permission. Oh. Your landlord's not Clinton Joe Holt, is he? 
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Apr 6, 2012 21:35
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Splizwarf posted:
Nope, but at least that is another name to avoid completely. Also, avoid Weichert Realty Property Management. Mary Egnor has been a nightmare to deal with (I started calling her about this in Feb., and every time I would follow up a phone call from the previous week, she would tell me about how I just called her 'yesterday' and that she has not had time to take action(write an email)). Her assistant just flat out refuses to deliver messages, and it took over a month just to get the garage door remotes and we had to go get our own mailbox keys and pay for them. It will be a miracle if our 5 day move-in inspection sheet has been given to the owner (we still have a copy) and if they don't try and screw us for the pitiful condition of the walls when we moved in to this place.
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Apr 6, 2012 21:42
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archangelwar posted:I would say 'yes.' College kids are notoriously bad tenants, and it would be doubly bad to be stuck with bad tenants in your own home. However, would you really be able to qualify for a loan without a primary job as income (only GI bill)? I'd need to look up some laws, but if properly drafted in a lease, couldn't I just kick a bad tenant out if given enough warning? I could get family to cosign the loan, or I could probably get the loan and purchase the house before I separate. The more I think about it, the more I'm liking the idea of just renting for a few more years.
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Apr 6, 2012 21:45
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You have described exactly what happened to us except we didn't even get a move-in inspection sheet and the property manager would yell at us not to call her "for trivial poo poo". Bitch, the house literally just got hit by a loving tornado; turn on the news because the Fox helicopter is directly overhead! (for hours, ugh so loud) If I move into another rental, I'm hiring a professional photographer and they're coming along with me and the landlord on the walkthrough. ~$300 up front to avoid thousands of dollars of bullshit down the line? Yes, please. Also, it would establish a third-party validity for the date of the photos, so "well you just took those" wouldn't fly.
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Apr 6, 2012 21:52
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scavok posted:I'd need to look up some laws, but if properly drafted in a lease, couldn't I just kick a bad tenant out if given enough warning? It is not easy to kick out bad tenants, especially if they are not technically doing anything wrong other than making your life a living hell. But even a tenant who refuses to pay rent can stick around long enough to make things difficult for you, as the eviction process is usually lengthy if they fight it. I would not get family to cosign. The potential to cause bad blood is just not worth it IMO, even if things are great now. Just rent and wait until you can afford a place for yourself. I believe if you were capable of living parallel lives, a few years down the road, the scavok who waited would most likely be the happiest scavok.
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Apr 6, 2012 21:54
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archangelwar posted:Just to reiterate on what others have said: Buying a house and renting it out is a Bad Idea™... unless it is fully/mostly paid for. While there are certainly markets out there right this instant where you can turn around and rent a house for more than your mortgage payment, there is no guarantee this will last, and there is no guarantee the excess money you generate will cover your expense in case you get a bad tenant or the place sits empty for a month or two. That's just my personal opinion, though.
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Apr 6, 2012 23:06
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Dik Hz posted:To offer a contrary opinion: If you can lock in a low interest rate and you have enough cash to weather the next 5 years, you might come out ahead. Rents usually move lockstep with mortgage payments. If the prime rate gets substantially higher and there's significant inflation, you might do pretty well. Making a leveraged investment on the spread between a mortgage payment and a rental rate is actually a pretty aggressive and complex transaction and probably shouldn't be undertaken unless you're someone with a lot of extra capital who's looking for a high-risk investment.
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Apr 7, 2012 19:28
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DuckConference posted:Making a leveraged investment on the spread between a mortgage payment and a rental rate is actually a pretty aggressive and complex transaction and probably shouldn't be undertaken unless you're someone with a lot of extra capital who's looking for a high-risk investment.
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Apr 8, 2012 00:37
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Dik Hz posted:Sounds like you just described buying a house there. There's a reason the original subtitle of this forum was DO NEVER BUY. Land moguls aside, who has ever heard of a truly happy landlord? Forget the razor-thin margins you're usually working with; does anyone really want the hassle of upkeep on a property that someone else is using while it is still ultimately your responsibility? Seriously people, if you want to speculate on the housing market and satisfy an itch to earn money through real estate, just put a bit of discretionary income towards an REIT or something.
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Apr 8, 2012 04:36
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Well, PMI shot up today. Another reason to stick to the theme of this thread.
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Apr 9, 2012 19:13
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More details, please. Nationally? How much? Etc.
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Apr 9, 2012 19:54
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Put an offer in on that house. I'm trying to keep myself in the proper mindset and treat it like the business transaction it is, but it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. I suppose I'm lucky in the sense that I'm in no hurry but it's still really hard to divorce from the emotion.
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Apr 9, 2012 19:59
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What's the deal with PMI, anyway? I'm in the middle of a refinance (well, the beginning, I guess) and my good faith estimate the PMI actually is about $30 or so cheaper a month. Is it my credit union getting me a better rate? Some equity I've built up?
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Apr 9, 2012 21:02
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Splizwarf posted:More details, please. Nationally? How much? Etc. I wonder how much of the 'improving' home market was people rushing to buy before the increase. http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2012-04/fha-fees-to-increase-on-monday.aspx?storyid=132132
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Apr 9, 2012 22:19
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