New mortgage at 45?

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would.

[Anonymous]

Generally speaking, yes. I think how risky it is to do that depends on the big picture of your financial situation, your plans for retirement, and so on.

We bought our first home in our late 40s. Our kids were young, so we’ll be working until our mid-60s to get them through college. Once that’s done, we’ll either move and downsize or stay and keep paying the mortgage from our pension/retirement savings.

[Anonymous]

We are 45 and 47 and just bought a new house with a $600K mortgage.

[Anonymous]

I did it at 43., with about 30% down. I then refinanced at 52 and shaved some years off and got a much lower rate and also am overpaying each month. I also don’t plan to retire in this house and will hopefully move to a lower COL area with no mortgage or downsize here. Be realistic in what you’re signing on for.

[Anonymous]

Just because you take out a 30 year mortgage doesn't mean you have to (a) pay it off in 30 years or (b) live there 30 years.

[Anonymous]

No one know what the future will bring.
If you are seriously concerned about future employment make sure you are keeping your self employable. Get certifications, trainings, learn, team with those younger than you so you have a great reputation for crossing generations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but I would factor in my age and expected age of retirement because they will impact your finances.

The thing is, lots of people take out 30 year mortgages in their 30s. So the difference between that and taking out a 15 year mortgage in your 40s is negligible. But I'd want to be putting more money down in my 40s, which shouldn't be a problem because you should have both more savings and more income in your 40s so putting together a large down payment should be a lot easier in your 40s.

Ideally if I take out a mortgage in my 40s (which I very well may as we intend to move in the next few years and the proceeds from our current home are not going to be enough to pay cash for the home I want), I want to be putting down a very sizable down payment (like maybe even 50% or more if I can swing it) and I want my monthly payment to be pretty low.

Also, by your 40s you should be starting to be able to identify your expected age of retirement and also have some idea of what your your finances will be. For us, we're on target to retire by 62 and would currently have about 10k/month in income (if we needed it). So taking out a 15 year mortgage at 49 with a payment of 2k/mo doesn't seem like a big deal to me -- I'd be done paying it at 64 but it wouldn't delay retirement because our retirement income would more than cover it without things being tight at all.

There is no such thing as a $2000 mortgage where I live, unfortunately. There’s nothing under $8-9000 per month that’s livable (somewhat livable ranch house in a decent neighborhood). That’s what concerns me.

What do you mean "there's nothing under $8-9k per month"? An $8k monthly mortgage payment at current rates means you're paying on a 1.2 million loan. Assuming you are putting down at least 10 percent, that would mean a purchase price of at least $1.35 million.

Plus by your 40s you should be able to put down more than 10 percent.

You're saying that where you live, there is "nothing" for less than 1.35m that is livable?

I call BS.

[Anonymous]

Got a new mortgage at 54, this never once crossed my mind and frankly never will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you take out a new mortgage at the ripe old age of 45? Truth be told, none of us knows when our working days will be over - we could face age discrimination or ill health. Would you take the risk to buy a new home at that age or is it over for me? Income and down payment are available.

We are 50 and have never had a mortgage but have been looking for some time now. You sound very spoiled OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did but I did a 15 year. That almost doubles the payments, so it’s tight.

Not at today’s interest rates.

I agree that OP should go for 15 year fixed as the max term.

[Anonymous]

45 now. Plan to buy in 3-5 years. I will get a mortgage even though I already have enough to pay cash.
Not afraid to lose work. I'm low income, not low NW, and there's plenty of work for me.

[Anonymous]

My M-I-L just did last month at the age of 70. Not sure how much she put down, etc. but it wasn’t a good move IMO. She was fed up with senior communities but we tried to tell her to rent. Oh well, it’s DH problem atp.

[Anonymous]

We took on a new mortgage in our late 40's. Granted we made a hefty down payment.

It never even occurred to me that we were too old.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, not sure why it would be a big deal - my parents still have a mortgage at 70, that said the principal is so low they could pay it off but so is the interest rate. If you want, throw extra money at principal to pay it off by a certain date.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we didn't even think about it. We usually stay in our previous houses max 10 years, because of career moves. Assume we will also sell this house before we pay it off.