Yes, in most cases you do need to pay a penalty. The penalty is different for each bank. The usual scenario is when a ban would charge you 3 month mortgage interest which is about $1000 for every 100,000 borrowed. So if your mortgage is 400,000 you would be paying close to 4000$ in penalty to break the mortgage. If you sold your house and planing to buy another one, you should talk to you bank to see if they will be able to move the mortgage to another property which is called "porting". If the mortgage you require is bigger you can reapply to get a higher mortgage and could have a blend mortgage where your additional amount has a different rate then the original mortgage.

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We are planning on buying a home, but many people have warned us that we should reconsider because there is a penalty if you sell a home in less than two years after you buy it. this is an issue for us because my dh is in the army and we may be relocated sooner than the usual 3 yrs. but we do think buying is a good investment for us because it's cheaper than renting and we would be paying ourselves instead of paying rent... - is this logical? the several people who have warned us to be careful of this also don't have any detailed info on the penalty - most think it is either a tax issue or a stipulation on the mortgage. our realtor is finding us a home with the number one feature being resale potential. he said the government may tax 3% (?) on any profit we make in the resale, but our bank says there is no fee for paying off the mortgage early. does anyone here know what this penalty is about or has anyone experienced this before? i just want to make sure we are making the right decision in buying a house (the whole point is to save or make money - not get into debt!) thanks in advance!

It's called a capital gains tax. Basically the government assumes that if you sell a house in less than two years, you only bought it to flip it and make a profit, so they tax you on the profit. Most mortgages are written without a penalty for early pay-off, but the tax is unavoidable. 3% sounds about right, too. If you are worried about being relocated in less than 2 years, don't bother buying a house, unless you want property for investment/rental use.

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Any experts, mortgage for closures, real estate, as i have heard several different answers, opposite answers from realtors. in michigan, i have tried to sell my home for 6 years. all payments and taxes have been paid on time. each month the home falls in value and its value now is about 50% of what it use to be. if it does sell, i would need to bring to closing more than $400,000, that would include realtor fees, because i owe much more than it is worth now. i do not have any of the $400,000 needed to bring to a closing. only what i could borrow without collateral. i have a little money in a 401k, and that is it. i am paying living expenses for the family, costs to run the home etc. and bills from a previous business from a failed michigan industry. i do not qualify for a bank short sale being told i cannot be approved for a short sale because of my income. the house is in need of much repair, so effects much including family health. when it sells, it will sell for land value. i do not have the money to fix it, so it cannot be leased out. i was also told by realtors not to put any money in the house even if possible, (which at this time is not possible) because of the falling prices and will only sell for land value in the end anyway. the taxes are approx. $20,000 a year and was told they will not be lowered, even though the home is worth land value, the city does not count it that way. if i find a home that is livable for my family, and start paying for that home, with a lease or what have you, - sellers in michigan will do pretty much anything to sell, because their homes have been for sale for so long now, or even if we live in an apartment. if i find a place for my family that is livable and pay for those living expenses and then if i stop paying the mortgage on the current home, and stop paying property tax, will my wages be garnished for the unpaid mortgage? will my wages be garnished for unpaid property taxes? what happens to the unpaid property taxes? if so, for either, is there a number of years that my wages will be garnished? or forever? are the penalties and interested added on? will there be any allowance for the new mortgage or apartment fees that i would be paying for my family to live in? i've tried to sell for several years, but now the value has dropped enough and the state of the home is not acceptable to live in and getting worse over the years along with family health. we need to move, but i don't know how to when i do not have the money to bring to a closing to sell and not accepted as a short sale canidate. i am open to hearing any solutions. in response to one of the answers. if i do not qualify for a short sale, then i don't think i would qualify for bankruptcy??? as suggested, if i walk away, looks like i will be sued for the $400,000 plus i assume the property taxes, plus by the time the mortgage company will be able to sell the home, which would be possibly a couple years or more,values will have dropped that much more and then penalties and interest on property tax and i assume penalities on mortgage, so lets say they end up suing me for $500,000. i think this would be garnished from my wages, correct? if that is the case, then it will be hard to pay for the new living expenses and housing. is there a limit of years that they could garnish my wages? can they take any of my 401k. bankrupt is much worse on a credit history than for closure i assume and since i have an income, i do not think i am allowed to go bankrupt, correct? is there a limit to how many years they can garnish my wages? a limit to how much per month that they can garnish? are interest added on for all the years it will take me to pay it back by garnishing my wages, or interest added on for the years it will take them to sell the property? if i do walk away, and my wages are garnished, is that money tax deductable because i am paying a mortgage back. if i have to pay the mortgage anyway on a for-closure, then is there any other solutions?

Property taxes of 20k a year? That seems high. If this is the same loan that you had when you brought the home it may be a nonrecourse loan. Home acquisition loans in CA are. That would mean you can walk away with no financial consequence to you. If it is a refi it is a recourse loan and technically you can be sued for the money but you cannot take blood from a turnip. The lender will send you a 1099C for debt cancellation. If it is a nonrecourse loan it wont matter. If you owe 400k on a refi and of that 300k is the orginal acquisition loan then you would have to pay income taxes on the 100k difference. Since you had use of the money it is claimed as income. This will, of course, be on your credit for several years but you do what you have to. Dont listen to realtors as they do not know tax law.

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Arts and culture increased funding for the national endowment for the arts (nea) to the highest level since 1992. created an artist corps for public schools. championed the importance of arts education. promoted cultural diplomacy. banking and financial reform broad policy established the national commission on fiscal responsibility and reform. established president’s advisory council on financial capability to assist in financial education for all americans., restoring american financial stability act of 2010., dodd-frank (df) wall street reform and consumer protection act, the biggest financial reform law since the great depression. managed the troubled asset relief program (tarp) assigned a special inspector general for the troubled asset relief program act of 2009. pension relief act of 2010. fraud enforcement and recovery act., played a lead role in g-20 summit re: financial crisis. reformed deferral rules to curb tax advantages for investing overseas. established new offshore investment policy that promotes in-sourcing., funding cut salaries for 65 bailout executives (pay czar). banks have repaid 75% of tarp funds, bringing the cost down to $89b as of june 2010. closed offshore tax safe havens, tax credit loopholes. , targeted actions created the financial stability oversight council to monitor stability of the financial system and individual firms (df). new requirements for reporting financial data (df). created self-funded office of financial research (ofr) to collect information from financial firms (df). ofr employees must wait a year before working for certain financial firms. provided for orderly liquidation of financial companies (df). limited trading activities of banks (volcker rule) beginning 2 yrs after passage (df). swaps pushout rule prevented federal assistance to swaps (including derivatives) traders (df). derivatives must be traded transparently through a clearing house (df). defined the amount and nature of assets required to meet capital requirements (df). originators of asset-backed securities must retain 5% ownership/risk (df). bureau of consumer financial protection (df). stronger client fiduciary duty for broker-dealers (df). higher standards for securities advertising and disclosures (df). expanded “insider loans” (df). higher standards for sytemically important ($50 billion assets+) institutions, including annual stress tests and restrictions on bank acquisitions (df). executive compensation must be determined by an independent committee (df). issued compensation guidelines for bank executive salary and bonuses. financial agencies must establish offices of women and minorities to promote more diverse hiring (df). credit card accountability, responsibility and disclosure act., credit card technical corrections act of 2009. established a credit card bill of rights. reformed credit card swipe fees. created new criminal penalties for mortgage fraud. congress pursued goldman sachs for securities violations. permanently extended research and experimentation tax credit for domestic investments. results (treasury) sold 1.5 billion shares of citigroup at a profit. g-20 summit produced a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the global financial crisis. negotiated deal with swiss banks to permit us government to gain access to records of tax evaders and criminals. financial reform has ‘strongest consumer financial protections in history.’ civil rights funding provided $12.2 billion in new funding for the individuals with disabilities act though the american recovery and investment act. targeted actions lilly ledbetter fair pay act; instituted equal pay for women. presidential memorandum extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. , presidential memorandum protecting gay and lesbian partners’ visitation/healthcare decision-making rights (4/15/2010). matthew shepard and james byrd jr. hate crimes prevention act to include gender, sexual orientation and disability. supported the repeal of don’t ask don’t tell (dadt). ryan white hiv/aids treatment extension act. established white house council on women and girls (executive order 13506 ). financial agencies must establish offices of women and minorities to promote more diverse hiring. increased minority access to capital. pushing through settlement in the black farmers lawsuit against usda., signed the un convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. increased federal employment of individuals with disabilities (exec order)(celebrating 20th anniversary of the ada)., more here: http://www.blueoregon.com/2010/12/o bamas-accomplishments/

Not everyone feels that way just those religious fundamentalist who are running for president against him. Isn't it ironic that those who love to invoke the name of Jesus and profess to be so pious are those who do the most muck racking and the most grinning while they do it. I think that the humble Obama will easily win this election.