If you don't have a 15 year mortgage, you're living beyond your means?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming you're not a troll, yes, you're way off base. Forget whether you have a 15 or 30-year mortgage. Why would you live in a crummy neighborhood and drive a BMW?

Pretty common for new homeowners to move into highly desired neighborhoods these days, usually millennials, being barely able to make the PITI payments even on a 30 year mortgage. Figure they'll just increase buying power over time, but then they forget to budget for things like furniture or the standard 2% of home value on annual maintenance and improvement. So, they'll buy that $1.2M home but then can't find the extra $2K per month to set aside for the occasional new roof, new HVAC, driveway paving, landscaping, etc.... House and property start looking like the neighborhood eyesore. Meanwhile many buy in during a bubble (think 2005-2007), home prices fall, and then they're also underwater because they didn't have the financial discipline to go with a 15 year mortgage. These are the same folks that lack the discipline to produce at work, end up getting laid off, and get foreclosed upon.

Anyone that has the financial wisdom to take on a 15 year mortgage has almost certainly done so [b]after having maxed out retirement at 20%+, HSA contributions, 529 plans, and after having allocated sufficient discretionary budget to weather the occasional economic storm.

[/b]

Ok, so this philosophy DOES depend on the idea that this "financial wisdom" requires starting out with a lot of money. People who can't afford to max out all those things AND have shelter have to make harder choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do too. And to blow OP’s mind even further, in addition to our 15-year mortgage and IKEA furniture, we drive a BMW and fly in first class.

IKEA furniture is very low quality. A BMW is not. Why not elevate all aspects of your lifestyle to the same level? I just don't get the people that own $3M homes and then have a dining room set that only costs $5K made of veneer furniture sitting on a machine-made oriental rug from COSTCO. Or the people that live in suburban McMansions and then fly coach for vacation. Or the people that drive Range Rovers but can't afford a long weekend at the Inn at Little Washington.

What kind of moron wastes money on a whole weekend at the Inn?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You are not a mechanical engineer, and have no such specialization. Your terminology is glaringly lacking from an engineering perspective. The Germans lost engineering preeminence after WW2. As it relates to BMW, case in point: VANOS. Where the conceptual could never square with the real world.

-a German engineer

Nice try, troll. B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech. Ph.D in Engineering Mathematics from MIT. J.D. in patent and intellectual property law from Harvard. Perhaps it is only benighted engineers like you that have never known the gratification of studying and innovating amongst the world’s most engineering elite.

This is probably how much you know about BMW innovation and engineering, in general: cos(ln(i^i))

There is no such thing as a JD in patent/IP law from Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do too. And to blow OP’s mind even further, in addition to our 15-year mortgage and IKEA furniture, we drive a BMW and fly in first class.

IKEA furniture is very low quality. A BMW is not. Why not elevate all aspects of your lifestyle to the same level? I just don't get the people that own $3M homes and then have a dining room set that only costs $5K made of veneer furniture sitting on a machine-made oriental rug from COSTCO. Or the people that live in suburban McMansions and then fly coach for vacation. Or the people that drive Range Rovers but can't afford a long weekend at the Inn at Little Washington.

My parents are an interesting case. They have two homes, with no debt, valued at likely $8 million+ yet my mom drives an 8 year old Subaru and my dad a used car. They often fly private but my mom will shop in consignment stores but she does have a nice wardrobe. My dad won’t spend money on new golf clubs or clothes but he donates tons to charity. They can afford any new car out there or just about anything else but they spend their money their way, not some keep up with the Jones’ way. I’m thankful that I have inherited some of their “what’s important thriftiness”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Home many in DMV actually have a 30 year mortgage?!? DH and I have a 15 year at 2.25%. Of course, we could have gone with a 30 year and invested the savings in the stock market, but how many people actually do this? Most of my friends have homes worth twice ours, but they have an HHI that is maybe 1/2. Most of our neighbors with similar home values are sporting used Toyotas, unkempt yards, IKEA furniture, and vacations to Rehoboth. Meanwhile, we have BMWs, several millions in savings, well manicured gardens and maintained home, heirloom Stickley furniture, and multiple int'l vacations per year in first class. One of our neighbor's trees fell down 2 years ago near the edge of our property line and they still haven't removed it. They want to split the $800 cost for removal. For real?!? Are we way off base, here?

How many people have a mortgage, OP? I mean, we paid all cash for our $5 million home and don't have any debt, except modest leverage on our private equity investments. If you have any debt, you're living beyond you means! /s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no such thing as a JD in patent/IP law from Harvard.

Weird. They must have just gotten rid of their Law, Science, and Technology Program as well as all associated coursework and specialization on both Intellectual Property Law and Patent Law.

https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/academics/programs-of-study/law-science-and-technology/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of moron wastes money on a whole weekend at the Inn?

Probably the same ones that live in NW D.C. and realize the Inn also hosts the only Michelin 3-star restaurant on the East Coast outside NYC and don’t want their refined experience tainted by a long drive to and from the restaurant? Unlike you, perhaps, living in the nearby gutters of Culpepper or Warrenton, from where you slog into the beltway merely thrice a week to your meaningless defense contracting job, and you’re still wondering why anyone would eat dinner at a Tire Repair Shop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many people have a mortgage, OP? I mean, we paid all cash for our $5 million home and don't have any debt, except modest leverage on our private equity investments. If you have any debt, you're living beyond you means! /s

PP, the majority of homeowners have mortgages, especially for first- and second-time home purchases. Maybe the difference between you and OP is that OP seems honest and self-made and you’re clearly the beneficiary of someone else’s hard work and financial resources. Let me guess? Mommy and Daddy paid for all of your college and early living expenses? Trust fund at 25? Massive inheritance at 55? If not, perhaps you can explain away your ability to accumulate enough wealth to purchase a $5M home in cash?

The only thing worse than a person that lives beyond their means is an indolent and marauding charlatan that secretly and smugly operates at the grace of another person’s wealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many people have a mortgage, OP? I mean, we paid all cash for our $5 million home and don't have any debt, except modest leverage on our private equity investments. If you have any debt, you're living beyond you means! /s

PP, the majority of homeowners have mortgages, especially for first- and second-time home purchases. Maybe the difference between you and OP is that OP seems honest and self-made and you’re clearly the beneficiary of someone else’s hard work and financial resources. Let me guess? Mommy and Daddy paid for all of your college and early living expenses? Trust fund at 25? Massive inheritance at 55? If not, perhaps you can explain away your ability to accumulate enough wealth to purchase a $5M home in cash?

The only thing worse than a person that lives beyond their means is an indolent and marauding charlatan that secretly and smugly operates at the grace of another person’s wealth.

The "/s" at the end means "sarcasm." The PP was parodying OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no such thing as a JD in patent/IP law from Harvard.

Weird. They must have just gotten rid of their Law, Science, and Technology Program as well as all associated coursework and specialization on both Intellectual Property Law and Patent Law.

https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/academics/programs-of-study/law-science-and-technology/

If you had actually attended, you would know you just get a JD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no such thing as a JD in patent/IP law from Harvard.

Weird. They must have just gotten rid of their Law, Science, and Technology Program as well as all associated coursework and specialization on both Intellectual Property Law and Patent Law.

https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/academics/programs-of-study/law-science-and-technology/

If you had actually attended, you would know you just get a JD.

But since you are just crap up on a mommy message board, you are confused.

[Anonymous]

Harvard doesn’t produce good IP lawyers in my view.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you had actually attended, you would know you just get a JD.

But since you are just crap up on a mommy message board, you are confused.

I am amazed at how many people on this thread are projecting opinions well beyond their conversational and intellectual depth. Every intelligent person knows that a J.D. from Harvard is awarded as just that. Anyone that actually attended Harvard also understands the importance of and ability to specialize in a particular field through combinations of coursework and fellowship. These facts most likely escape the typical D.C. Big Law simpletons that attended the more remedial schools like UVA and Georgetown. Never could such sophomoric practitioners grasp the possibility of pursuing a joint fellowship opportunity simultaneously with both Harvard and MIT, to culminate in the awarding of both a J.D. and a Ph.D…obviously as a customized pathway to a C-Suite General Counsel position in Big Tech – as DCUM might comprehend it – with, of course, a specialization in patent and intellectual property law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am amazed at how many people on this thread are projecting opinions well beyond their conversational and intellectual depth. Every intelligent person knows that a J.D. from Harvard is awarded as just that. Anyone that actually attended Harvard also understands the importance of and ability to specialize in a particular field through combinations of coursework and fellowship. These facts most likely escape the typical D.C. Big Law simpletons that attended the more remedial schools like UVA and Georgetown. Never could such sophomoric practitioners grasp the possibility of pursuing a joint fellowship opportunity simultaneously with both Harvard and MIT, to culminate in the awarding of both a J.D. and a Ph.D…obviously as a customized pathway to a C-Suite General Counsel position in Big Tech – as DCUM might comprehend it – with, of course, a specialization in patent and intellectual property law.

OMG!!! You’re so fu¢%ing full of yourself. WTF kind of General Counsel at a major tech firm is posting $h!t like this on DCUM blog on a Sunday?!?! You’re either a really amusing troll or an actual, total loser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is dumb to tie yourself to a 15-year mortgage. Get a 30-year mortgage and make double payments. This gives you flexibility if, for example, one or both of you lose your jobs and you have cash flow problems for a month or two. Apparently your idiotic plan worked out for you and your husband, OP, but it isn't the best choice.

30 year mortgage has higher interest rates so your comment makes no sense.