Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Take out a 30Y and pay down extra principal every month (akin to a 20Y loan).
This gives you extra breathing room in case you ever need to pay the minimum due to job loss, a serious illness, etc. Plus you'll reduce your lifetime interest expense at these awful rates.
Good lord. Lemme guess, you're younger than 40?
Huh? I'm not the PP, but I've also heard and read this same advice from multiple sources and it makes logical sense. Get the 30, pay extra on the principal with each payment.
Anonymous wrote:I took out a 30 year at 55. So what.
Anonymous wrote:Can you put chunks of money toward paying it down? We can do that on ours for $150 to "reset" our mortgage each time. Same rate, only with less owed. It significantly reduces the interest paid over the life of the loan. We hope to pay it off completely in a few years.
Anonymous wrote:I took out a 30 year at 55. So what.
Anonymous wrote:Only reason it is stupid is because of interest rates. If you're able to afford the payments long term including into retirement, fine. If you plan to sell the house at some point, fine. And if you are able to pay ahead to end the mortgage early...fine.
My 70+ year old parents have enough cash in the bank to pay off their house, but their 3 figure house payment (refinanced I dont want to know how many times since the mid-80s) is extremely doable.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Take out a 30Y and pay down extra principal every month (akin to a 20Y loan).
This gives you extra breathing room in case you ever need to pay the minimum due to job loss, a serious illness, etc. Plus you'll reduce your lifetime interest expense at these awful rates.
Good lord. Lemme guess, you're younger than 40?
Anonymous wrote:Take out a 30Y and pay down extra principal every month (akin to a 20Y loan).
This gives you extra breathing room in case you ever need to pay the minimum due to job loss, a serious illness, etc. Plus you'll reduce your lifetime interest expense at these awful rates.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What’s the alternative?
There's no way to answer OP's question without an answer to this. Is it stupid to take out a new mortgage for a modest first house? Is it stupid to live in a paid off house and take out a $1.5m mortgage on a new place because you want something nicer? Very different answers.
Not really. The financial impact of the mortgage is the same.
Anonymous wrote:Do a 15 year mortgage or pay in extra every month.