This is an absolute yes in my books and this is what I want to help people doing. Mortgage free means you have more money now to use in other projects or just to save. Mortgage free is financial freedom.

ON Canada - did you talk to the bank prior to skipping a payment? You may want to consider refinancing your current mortgage if the rates would make sense . Email me if you are in Ontario and I will be more than happy to review your consideration victor_catalan@centum.ca - Victor Catalan (647) 378-2143.

is there a penalty if you sell your home and don`t purchase another one .

Powered by

We found a a large cheap house. 4 bedroom house for 25,900. my husband and i have bad credit and are planning on starting to pay down are debts when we can. buy buying this house we will reduce our monthly housing costs dramatically and will be able to start doing this. renting we pay $400 a month for a 2 bedroom. buy buying our mortgage payment will be between 150 - 250 a month depending on interest rate and lending options we choose. his mother has offered to help with down payment and cosign. she has excellent credit. we owe a little over $8000 in outstanding debt. i plan to pay a good $1000 on it next month when i get a large financial aid check. then at tax time we will get about a $8000 tax check (if we buy this house with tax credits etc) and we will pay off the remainder of the debt. will lenders take this into consideration? will my mil cosigner be a big help? is it worth it to try and get a loan with our bad credit? we were young and stupid and definitely regret it now. i don't believe in getting something for nothing so i want to pay off our debts and better our lives for us and our daughter.

Finding a home loan that is affordable when you have bed credit can seem nearly impossible and can be very frustrating. However, there are lenders out there who will approve yourhome loan regardless of your credit history. Yes, there will be some fees and catches associated with this, but it is possible. There are some things you can do, however, to help you buy a home and be approved for ahome loan even if you have bad credit. The following suggestions will prepare you for getting a home loan even with poor or bad credit. http://theloansonline.blogspot.com/ A home loan approval for people with poor credit generally requires a 10-20% down payment. Basically, the higher the down payment you can make the betterhome loan rates you will receive. When you make a large down payment you have immediate equity, which goes a long way to you being approved for ahome loan.

Powered by

Hi everyone in australia there is speculation of an impending recession. i have been saving alot of money the past 7 years and was thinking that when the recession hits, housing prices will plummet due to: - reduced spending, equals slow real estate market, equals cheap prices and room to bargain; - lots of cheap houses from people who are selling up who can't afford their mortgage; and - banks selling houses of people who have foreclosed at cheap prices. - when the economy picks up again, my house value could skyrocket. buy low, sell high. so, would it be a good time to buy a house? thanks

I am an investor by trade and am buying homes as many as I can get that are cheap enough. In down economic times you can steal assets. But the down side is you must be patient in waiting to sell the asset for profits. you may have to wait 5 to 10 years before we come out of this housing slump. Then the prices will be higher and you can cash in your chips. As Warren Buffet says I buy when the bears are giving the assets away. Housing is cheap because of the bust and now is a good time to buy. However don't be light on cash and make sure you buy only a good deal. The market you are in also has an impact as some markets that have been rising very quickly could be a bad place to buy like calif and east coastal markets be careful not to get caught in a home that is still going down in price. Some areas may yet see another 10% shaved off there high values. know the value of the home you purchase make sure its worth much more then you pay just to give you some cushion should you decide to sell. Good luck I bought a bunch of rentals in this market at less then 50% of value and paid cash for them, Now I am getting 35% on my money. I bought 50k duplexes for 10k. If you plan to buy a home to live in don't pay over 65% of its appraised value right now.

Powered by

I am considering purchasing a $200k house and have saved a total $28k in cash. i am a first time buyer, have an excellent credit score and being offered a mortgage rate of 5.25%. i am willing to put 5% down and use a single premium mortgage to avoid monthly pmis. what would be a typical premium fee for this type of loan that i can expect to pay during closing? and would it better to pay this "fee" using separate cash or add it to the mortgage amount? i am under the impression that taking a 2nd mortgage (80-20 or 80-15-5) would be more expensive than the single premium mortgage. i am also considering buying a used car ($12-15k). should i pay for it using some of the cash i have saved (and reduce down payment on the house) or get it financed? is there somehow a way to get the vehicle financed using the money from the mortgage since it is probably cheaper than the interest rate i will get on a used car?

I believe that you should pay cash for the car. I don't believe in financing anything that loses value over time like a car or boat. I also believe that you need to have an Emergency Fund of at least 6 months of your expenses (including your new mortgage payment amount ) above the down payment because there will be emergencies. The transmission or brakes will need repair. You will have a medical expense or some other unforseen expense. I also believe that the minimum down payment that people should make is 20%. It eliminates PMI completely and lowers the monthly payments. I also believe that the mortgage payment on your home should be a fixed interest rate and should be no more than 25% of your take home pay. I believe this because it is far to easy to become "house poor" so that all you do is work to make the mortgage payments and you never have any money for fun. If you paint yourself into too tight a financial corner then you will never have any money to save for retirement, go on a vacation, or even furnish your house. I know that this isn't what you wanted to hear but it would better to buy your car now with cash and then start building your cash up to $65K before you buy your house IF the $884 payment is 25% of your monthly income or less. That would give you $40K for a 20% down payment, a $25K Emergency Fund and a paid for car. If the payment is more than 25% of your income, then the house is too expensive for you. Sorry. Down payment Monthly payment 20% down----------------- $883.52 5% down------------------$1326.27 including 0.5% PMI

Powered by

My wife and i are trying to buy a house. cost is $110,000, and we have the 20 percent down payment ($22,000), leaving us with a loan value of $88,000. problem is this: since i've stayed debt-free most of my life and thus have no credit score, it looks like we're going to be penalized by fannie mae during the closing process. they'll tack nearly $3,000 extra onto our loan closing fees, to bring our grand total closing cost to $7,000 and some change. $7,000 would deplete our checking account severely, leaving us with very little cushion (around $4000, if we're lucky). plus we have to buy appliances (

Most lenders will not allow a person applying for an getting a mortgage loan to borrower any of the closing cost or the down payment. In some instances you might have a family member or a non-profit organization give you a gift of the money for the down payment. So lenders even require that you pay a minimum of 3% of the closing cost. It appears as if you guys are good savers therefore you might consider using your savings for this cost. It would take you very little time to recover this amount. When you applied for you mortgage loan you should have been given a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) of closing cost within three days of you signing your mortgage loan application. These fees should not have come as a surprise to you. If the mortgage terms, interest rate or closing cost change changed during the course of the mortgage loan application once again you should have been given another GFE that you would be required to sign. You should inquire as to how this cost of $3000 was now added to your closing cost. I hope this has been of some benefit to you, good luck. "FIGHT ON"

Powered by

I bought a house for £62,000 and borrowed on top of that £15,000 making a total loan of £77,000....because of the rise in interest rates i am remortgaging to a fixed rate 2 year deal on the basis that the house is now worth £90,000 this will reduce repayents by £100 a monthg...i am thinking of selling the house and buying a cheaper smaller property about £75,000....question is will any money i make be tied up in cheaper mortgage repayments or do i get a lump sum???....im very confused and speaking to my financial advisor confuses me more

Then you need to find a new financial advisor. But if you sell, typically you'd want to take that money and apply it as a down payment on the new home. Perhaps opening up a line of credit based on that equity would make sense, it'd give you access to cash if you need it, but at least you're not paying interest on it until you need to spend it.

Powered by

The constitution restricts the role of the federal government, and in particular, the executive branch. yet, americans seem to look for presidential candidates who promise that they will do all kinds of things that are way outside of the scope of the presidency. to summarize, the 2 presidentail candidates have promised to : "keep people in their homes" (even if they can't afford them and shouldn't have bought them??) "help people pay their bills" (isn't it up to them to budget?) direct investment towards green cars (isn't this up to the private sector?) "help people buy green cars made in american" (isn't this up to me to decide if i want a car made in america or korea or japan???) renegotiate ledning rates with banks (isn't this up to the banks and the consumers?) "keep jobs in america" (even if they are in sectors of the economy where we no longer have a comparative advantage?) "lower the dropout rate" (isn't that up to the family and local school district?) buy up mortgages inspire people assist people in making their own decisions about buying a house reduce medical records errors provide healthcare make college cheaper than it already is at a community college provide daycare (through institutions like head start - even if these programs provide no net demonstrable benefit) tell people under what circumstances they can sell securities pay local school district teachers direct grade school teachers how to teach your kids about sex and birth control i believe that most of these things should be handled by the famikly, locality, or state. is there anything the president should not do? note: the things i have listed are not specific to either candidate. it is a list of proposals by the 2 candidates.

The president can't do all these things unless congress helps him/her do it. The only thing he can do is propose and compromise.

Powered by

This is an example of what you will get if mccain becomes president. john mccain's new mortgage plan is worse than i had imagined possibly, even given what i know about john mccain douglas holtz-eakin says, this morning: [w]e would in fact be taking the negative equity position and putting it on the taxpayers books instead of putting it on the private lenders books or the homeowners books. we think the balance of risk has shifted to the point where this is the way to go... what does this mean? it means that john mccain wants to give $100 billion of taxpayers' money to america's worst-behaving mortgage financiers. let's back up. for the past month the debate about how to deal with the collapse of the debt-trading portion of america's financial markets has been between two plans: the paulson plan and the elmendorf plan: the paulson plan: have the government buy up distressed securities at market value, thus reducing the supply of high-yield debt securities that the private sector must hold. when you reduce the supply of anything you raise its price. hence the paulson plan's $700 billion purchases will push the prices of risky debt securities up, and so companies will then be able to sell their bonds again and so hire more workers, and depression will be averted. the elmendorf plan: have the government directly invest in and take an equity stake in troubled banks, thus reassuring their depositors and creditors that they are sound. the banks will then be able to profit by buying up distressed securities--hence raising their prices--and by directly lending to companies that will then be able to hire more workers, and depression will be averted. the argument for the paulson plan was that the elmendorf plan was socialism. the argument for the elmendorf plan was that it held the promise of doing a much better job of preventing depression, for each dollar committed to the paulson plan reduces the gap between the demand and supply of distressed securities by only $1, while each dollar invested in a bank is then leveraged 8-to-1 as bank creditors and depositors are then willing to keep more money in the bank and so reduces the gap between the demand and supply of distressed securities by $8. eight times as much bang for each federal buck, and the elmendorf plan ensured that the taxpayers were protected to a greater extent: we did not just have the socialization of loss after the privatization of gain, we had the socialization of any gains that might occur if banks' equity values ever recovered. the argument for passing paulson-dodd-frank was: time is of the essence: something needs to be done right now. paulson-dodd-frank has sufficient flexibility that assistant secretary neel kashkari and his successors can do either paulson or elmendorf, at their judgment. the logic of the situation will over time drive kashkari and his successors toward an elmendorf-like solution as he deals in the markets. now comes john mccain with something worse than paulson: ben smith's blog: moral hazard: moral hazard my colleague victoria mcgrane, late of our capitol hill bureau, emails with the most lucid explanation i've seen of what mccain did last night. the crucial shift from a recent congressional housing bill to mccain's more dramatic plan, she writes, was a move away from concern about moral hazard: details provided to reporters by senior adviser doug holtz-eakin wednesday morning make one thing clear: taxpayers would directly pick up the tab for the difference in cost between a homeowner’s old, too-expensive mortgage and the cheaper one provided by the government... something that congressional lawmakers, led by house financial services chairman barney frank (d-mass.) specifically avoided when they crafted their own landmark housing bill, which passed in late august and took effect oct. 1. congress’ bill – which holtz-eakin says provides at least part of the authority mccain would need to carry out his plan – provided a $300 billion program to help distressed borrowers refinance into cheaper federal housing authority mortgages. but to participate, lenders and mortgage investors would have to reduce the mortgage principal... not so mccain's plan. mccain's plan is for the government to buy up $300 billion of distressed mortgages not at current market value but at full face value: “clearly we face the trade off that we would in fact be taking the negative equity position and putting it on the taxpayers books instead of putting it on the private lenders books or the homeowners books,” holtz-eakin told politico. “we think the balance of risk has shifted to the point where this is the way to go.” the mccain plan is: take $300 billion. pay double current market value to banks that have troubled mortgages on their books, thus: give a present of $100 billion to the bankers who made the loans. acquire and regularize the mortgages of only two-thirds as many homeowners as could h

You are obviously a Obahama fan...which means your not a christain. I feel sorry for you and will pray for you as well. Please do us all a favor and get a life outside of politics! Have a great day:)

Powered by

I am barely getting by now since my divorce. the home is in my name, i can make the payments, but it is leaving nothing over at the end of the month. i am strapped. can't put money into my 401k or kids' college plans now. even though my credit is nearly perfect, my house is worth about 30% of what i owe now, through no fault of my own,,,when i requested assistance, the bank would only allow a "fha streamline" modifaction, which reduced my payments about $100 but extended my loan another 7 years! i personally hate my home, it is the "divorce" house, and have no problem "walking away". i am just worried that i will be garnished in the future. i've been told that fha pim insurance guarantees that the bank cannot come after me, but the government can. i need answers. i am considering buying a cheaper home in the detroit metro area in cash, but i don't want that seized by the irs or hud. i am thinking of puttting my cash purchase home in my father's name. any ideas or suggestions?

Well, you won't have anywhere near perfect credit (perfectly awful) and you won't be able to buy a cheaper home unless you in fact do pay cash. Your legal, moral and ethical position stated above are indefensible. Let's have a pity party because you are in a "divorce house" which you can afford to pay for, but wish not to, even though you have enough to pay cash for another home. Your lender, who has a secured interest in your home which is worth less than when they loaned you (the money you begged of them to buy the place) through no fault of their own, and which had no obligation to do so, worked with you and reduced your payments by $100 a month. Short sale would make more sense. With your primary home, with a first mortgage, there are some protections.

Powered by

I'm so miserable in my living circumstance. me and my partner are a young married couple (aged 21 & 22) living in uk. we work full time and our household income per month is £2000. we private rent a tiny 1 bedroom furnished flat which costs us £400 a mnth. after paying all of our bills, rent and food we're left with about £600 a month. my husband is learning to drive which costs alot and we usually end up saving £400 a month. we really hate our flat. it's tiny, damp and overpriced. we're saving for a mortgage but our bank tells us that because we would need a 10% deposit, plus solicitors costs, we need to have about £15k saved. we're also saving for a car so we can buy a place out of the city, where it's cheaper. we've put ourselves on the council list to see if we can get a council property instead. the rent is so much cheaper and we could buy a car, and after a few years buy the council house at a reduced price. but the list is so, so long, and we are classed as "low need" so we probably won't get anything for several years. also, when we eventually do get somewhere we will need to make sure we have enough saved to pay off the remaining months on our private rent lease, plus enough for furniture. we either need to wait several years for the council to give us a place, whilst at the same time saving for a car, money to pay off the rent lease plus enough to furnish a new place or we need to save for several years in order to buy a car and get a mortgage. but i hate my place so much, it makes me so depressed. we can't moved out or even think about starting a family. please can anyone suggest anything? thank you so much!

Never give up,keep looking their is light at the end of the tunnel,good luck

Powered by

Here's a breakdown of my husband and my monthly obligations: mortgage: $1206 car payments: $466 electric: $120 natural gas: $66 verizon: $70 cable/phone/internet: $80 water/waste disposal: $75 life insurance: $85 auto insurance: $174 student loans: $120 credit card: $51 currently, my husband is getting a lot of overtime, and we are bringing home $4,400 a month. however, in june his overtime will end for about 8 months, and his income will settle back down to approx. $3,000 per month. both of these figures are after health insurance, taxes, and our 401(k) contribution of 4%. i am extremely grateful that we are making what we are in this terrible economy, but it's very frustrating because once the overtime ends, we will just be making it, with room for few extras, and i just don't know what else we can cut down/cut out. our mortgage is not going to change; in fact, it could very well go up if our homeowner's insurance premium goes up or our city decides to raise the real estate tax; we owe 3 more years on our cars, and $466 total between both payments is quite cheap, and it's silly to trade one of our cars in for something cheaper since we have already paid so much on them, so there's not much to do with that; our natural gas, electric, and water bills are right on par with the local average - we are very conscious of our lights, heat, and water usage, and can't cut these bills back anymore without major discomfort; we are in the middle of a 2 year contract with verizon and are on the cheapest plan available (they actually don't even offer our plan anymore... we are grandfathered. the cheapest plan currently for two lines is $20 extra a month); our phone/cable/internet bill cannot be reduced - i work at home and depend on the house phone, since my husband and i share a mere 500 peak minutes on our cells, our cable is the minimum package at $12 a month - basically just prevents us from needing rabbit ears, and our internet is the cheapest available in our area; we just acquired life insurance, which is $50,000 each whole and $100,000 each term - that's a necessity, especially since we are 23 and 24 and locked in our rate for life; our auto insurance could be lowered by upping our deductible to $500, but i called and asked about it, and it would only make a $30 difference every 6 months, which doesn't seem worth it considering we'd be upping our deductibles so much. the student loan... well, there's not much we can do about that. we could get it financed for more than the standard 10 years, but then you are just spending so much extra money in interest. we have recently paid off $1,100 furniture, $500 department store charge, $1,500 best buy, $1,600 on my credit card, and now all we have left is my husband's credit card, which has a $3,000 balance. most of this debt was from early in our marriage and we decided quickly that we didn't want to carry debt, so we have been working hard to pay it off. before my husband's overtime ends, we will have paid the credit card completely off. so... any realistic ideas of how we might cut our expenses? all the articles on the internet are so cheesy or unrealistic. for instance, i'm not in dire enough of a situation to reduce my heat to 60 degrees! -- our income will be $3,000. not just his. the insurance deductible reduction would only lower my auto insurance $30 every six months, not every month. i wish it'd lower it $30 per month! :)

You have made some big strides paying off all that debt. Good job! It looks like you will have $51 free up from the credit card debt. I suggest you add that to your student loan payment or car payment to help pay that debt down faster. You need to get to $0 car loan payments as fast as possible. If you can sell a car and replace it with a fully paid for vehicle that helps. Drive a clunker if that is what you need to do. Can you find more income? Is there a 2nd job husband could take while OT is not there or is there a job you can find to help compensate for lost OT? If your husband's credit card is at a high rate like over 20% then I suggest you contact http://www.moneymanagement.org/ because they can help reduce rates to 6%. That can be a big saver. Can you drop Verizon? That is a lot of money for a cell phone when your budget is so tight. Vonage offers home phone service for $25 a month and there are others that are cheaper than that . Perhaps while OT is gone you can reduce your cable and internet service so monthly outlay is less. Can you cut it altogether or go to a less expensive plan until OT is back. Don't try for home run but take the singles. Drop your deductible and take what they give you. Drop you thermostat to 65 if 60 is not comfortable right now. Enough little things add up.