I am actually considering PG county if I stay in this area. But I work in Arlington. If my job allows me to work remote (permanently), I may move to central New York (Rochester). I can get a nice house for $150k. |
Wow! I don't have student loan debt, so I hope this isn't too invasive. Can you share you est. original principal and what year it began, est. what you've paid thus far, and where est. current total balance? Is this for both a bachelor's and some sort of master's or professional degree? From what I gather, the usury on these loans is really drowning people. Especially if you're an unmarried millennial, you can't get ahead. And you just missed out on making well over $100K+ on a house over the last 2-3 years. Now you have to try to buy into the red-hot housing market. It's so unfair. |
My original principal amount was $104k and 7 years later of on-time payments the principal is $103,981. When I graduated 7 years I got a job with a starting salary of $43k. I've busted my arse for 7 years to get across the six figure line. And honestly I didn't even make over $85k until 3 years ago. So I'm just able to save more money for a down payment. Right now, I have enough savings to do FHA 3.5% for a $325k mortgage. but the bank doesn't even want to give me more than $277K. I could have been at closer to 10 percent, but I have been putting away 5% for retirement. My first year working I did not put into retirement, I put $4,400 of extra money toward my student loans and the daily compounding interest just ate that up. So, I made different decisions--especially after seeing my parent struggle in retirement from lack of savings. |