Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We've talked about refinancing our mortgage (we can't refinance our mountain land though, I've looked into it and I can't find a company that will refinance it since it is only land and no house). It's a 15 year mortgage that we are into our 6th year of, so we are paying less interest. This is definitely something I'd like to discuss with a financial adviser though.

What is your rate? do you have enough equity to refi your home?
I don't think 15 y mortgage is the best option for you right now. You have high mandatory payments while your DH income fluctuates a lot. I make sense to refi for 30 y loan, and make additional payments when his income is higher than usual, and keep regular payment schedule otherwise.
It would free up some cash, and you can keep your retirement contributions.
Just my 2 c

+1. Best advice yet

How is it a good idea to refinance a 9 year mortgage to 30 years?

Um, when you can't afford your mortgage payment!!!!

Right. But she can afford the payment, just not pay,pm ent + xy and z. It would be CRAZY to refinance with only nine years left.

What's crazy is to have mortgage payments ~ 50% of take home pay with 2 kids in daycare and unstable income.
Also, from reading OP I highly doubt she has sufficient rainy day fund for unplanned expenses.
So, yeah, she cannot afford 15 year loan in my books.

she has been doing it for 6 six years. this is not the time to refinance - better stop 401k for a while.

Her DH income dropped and they had 2 little ones recently, so, no she's not doing it for 6 years

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We've talked about refinancing our mortgage (we can't refinance our mountain land though, I've looked into it and I can't find a company that will refinance it since it is only land and no house). It's a 15 year mortgage that we are into our 6th year of, so we are paying less interest. This is definitely something I'd like to discuss with a financial adviser though.

What is your rate? do you have enough equity to refi your home?
I don't think 15 y mortgage is the best option for you right now. You have high mandatory payments while your DH income fluctuates a lot. I make sense to refi for 30 y loan, and make additional payments when his income is higher than usual, and keep regular payment schedule otherwise.
It would free up some cash, and you can keep your retirement contributions.
Just my 2 c

+1. Best advice yet

How is it a good idea to refinance a 9 year mortgage to 30 years?

Um, when you can't afford your mortgage payment!!!!

Right. But she can afford the payment, just not pay,pm ent + xy and z. It would be CRAZY to refinance with only nine years left.

What's crazy is to have mortgage payments ~ 50% of take home pay with 2 kids in daycare and unstable income.
Also, from reading OP I highly doubt she has sufficient rainy day fund for unplanned expenses.
So, yeah, she cannot afford 15 year loan in my books.

she has been doing it for 6 six years. this is not the time to refinance - better stop 401k for a while.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We've talked about refinancing our mortgage (we can't refinance our mountain land though, I've looked into it and I can't find a company that will refinance it since it is only land and no house). It's a 15 year mortgage that we are into our 6th year of, so we are paying less interest. This is definitely something I'd like to discuss with a financial adviser though.

What is your rate? do you have enough equity to refi your home?
I don't think 15 y mortgage is the best option for you right now. You have high mandatory payments while your DH income fluctuates a lot. I make sense to refi for 30 y loan, and make additional payments when his income is higher than usual, and keep regular payment schedule otherwise.
It would free up some cash, and you can keep your retirement contributions.
Just my 2 c

+1. Best advice yet

How is it a good idea to refinance a 9 year mortgage to 30 years?

Um, when you can't afford your mortgage payment!!!!

Right. But she can afford the payment, just not pay,pm ent + xy and z. It would be CRAZY to refinance with only nine years left.

What's crazy is to have mortgage payments ~ 50% of take home pay with 2 kids in daycare and unstable income.
Also, from reading OP I highly doubt she has sufficient rainy day fund for unplanned expenses.
So, yeah, she cannot afford 15 year loan in my books.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We've talked about refinancing our mortgage (we can't refinance our mountain land though, I've looked into it and I can't find a company that will refinance it since it is only land and no house). It's a 15 year mortgage that we are into our 6th year of, so we are paying less interest. This is definitely something I'd like to discuss with a financial adviser though.

What is your rate? do you have enough equity to refi your home?
I don't think 15 y mortgage is the best option for you right now. You have high mandatory payments while your DH income fluctuates a lot. I make sense to refi for 30 y loan, and make additional payments when his income is higher than usual, and keep regular payment schedule otherwise.
It would free up some cash, and you can keep your retirement contributions.
Just my 2 c

+1. Best advice yet

How is it a good idea to refinance a 9 year mortgage to 30 years?

Um, when you can't afford your mortgage payment!!!!

Right. But she can afford the payment, just not pay,pm ent + xy and z. It would be CRAZY to refinance with only nine years left.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We've talked about refinancing our mortgage (we can't refinance our mountain land though, I've looked into it and I can't find a company that will refinance it since it is only land and no house). It's a 15 year mortgage that we are into our 6th year of, so we are paying less interest. This is definitely something I'd like to discuss with a financial adviser though.

What is your rate? do you have enough equity to refi your home?
I don't think 15 y mortgage is the best option for you right now. You have high mandatory payments while your DH income fluctuates a lot. I make sense to refi for 30 y loan, and make additional payments when his income is higher than usual, and keep regular payment schedule otherwise.
It would free up some cash, and you can keep your retirement contributions.
Just my 2 c

+1. Best advice yet

How is it a good idea to refinance a 9 year mortgage to 30 years?

Um, when you can't afford your mortgage payment!!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parking at a metro station is $4.50 a day last I checked and there are approx 22 business days in a month, so parking at the metro instead of at work in Georgetown would save you about $200/month.

OK so keep doing math- how much does she actually save once she pays for a round-trip metro ride?

OP here, I did the math:

If I parked at the metro, the total round trip would cost me $9.20 a day, so about $202/month

If I took the bus, it would cost me $7.40 round trip, so about $163/month

I guess it is something I should look into

Does this include the parking cost? How much time does this add to your commute? Does not seem worthwhile.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We've talked about refinancing our mortgage (we can't refinance our mountain land though, I've looked into it and I can't find a company that will refinance it since it is only land and no house). It's a 15 year mortgage that we are into our 6th year of, so we are paying less interest. This is definitely something I'd like to discuss with a financial adviser though.

What is your rate? do you have enough equity to refi your home?
I don't think 15 y mortgage is the best option for you right now. You have high mandatory payments while your DH income fluctuates a lot. I make sense to refi for 30 y loan, and make additional payments when his income is higher than usual, and keep regular payment schedule otherwise.
It would free up some cash, and you can keep your retirement contributions.
Just my 2 c

+1. Best advice yet

How is it a good idea to refinance a 9 year mortgage to 30 years?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We've talked about refinancing our mortgage (we can't refinance our mountain land though, I've looked into it and I can't find a company that will refinance it since it is only land and no house). It's a 15 year mortgage that we are into our 6th year of, so we are paying less interest. This is definitely something I'd like to discuss with a financial adviser though.

What is your rate? do you have enough equity to refi your home?
I don't think 15 y mortgage is the best option for you right now. You have high mandatory payments while your DH income fluctuates a lot. I make sense to refi for 30 y loan, and make additional payments when his income is higher than usual, and keep regular payment schedule otherwise.
It would free up some cash, and you can keep your retirement contributions.
Just my 2 c

+1. Best advice yet

Anonymous wrote:

We've talked about refinancing our mortgage (we can't refinance our mountain land though, I've looked into it and I can't find a company that will refinance it since it is only land and no house). It's a 15 year mortgage that we are into our 6th year of, so we are paying less interest. This is definitely something I'd like to discuss with a financial adviser though.

What is your rate? do you have enough equity to refi your home?
I don't think 15 y mortgage is the best option for you right now. You have high mandatory payments while your DH income fluctuates a lot. I make sense to refi for 30 y loan, and make additional payments when his income is higher than usual, and keep regular payment schedule otherwise.
It would free up some cash, and you can keep your retirement contributions.
Just my 2 c

I am one of the PPs who stopped retirement contributions for a while. However, we both had secure jobs, so I was confident that we could get back to where we needed to be. I would feel nervous about your plan because it sounds like it's built on hope that your husband's business is going to do better. Along with the mountain mortgage, it sounds like one or both of you is doing too much speculation.

Honestly, on your income with your liabilities, I never would have gotten pregnant at this time. Especially with the insecurity of knowing what will happen with your husband's business. In fact, we only had one child in part because of money. I would cut to the bone and make a really good back-up plan. Maybe your husband can work part-time doing something else? Good luck.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parking at a metro station is $4.50 a day last I checked and there are approx 22 business days in a month, so parking at the metro instead of at work in Georgetown would save you about $200/month.

OK so keep doing math- how much does she actually save once she pays for a round-trip metro ride?

OP here, I did the math:

If I parked at the metro, the total round trip would cost me $9.20 a day, so about $202/month

If I took the bus, it would cost me $7.40 round trip, so about $163/month

I guess it is something I should look into

Anonymous wrote:Parking at a metro station is $4.50 a day last I checked and there are approx 22 business days in a month, so parking at the metro instead of at work in Georgetown would save you about $200/month.

OK so keep doing math- how much does she actually save once she pays for a round-trip metro ride?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you are unwilling to make the changes needed. Since that is the case, just stop the retirement contributions.

But this is a choice that you are making. You make enough money to continue funding retirement, but you are choosing to prioritize other things. Fine, but acknowledge that it is a choice, not something that is happening to you.

Well it sounds like a couple of the suggestions wouldn't save them that much money- e.g., the truck and the mountain home if they're underwater on it. The metro vs. driving/parking depends on where she works as not everywhere is Metro-accessible (and long Metro rides have gotten expensive).

We actually did talk to a realtor about the mountain land, but we are so underwater on it it wouldn't make any sense to sell.

Depending upon if we could get anything for the truck, I am definitely willing to do that and hope that my husband would be too.

For the metro - I used to take the metro before we had DS1 and I actually preferred taking the metro over driving. However, now that DS1 is around, I do the morning school drop off for him. It wouldn't make a lot of sense to drive all the way back home after that and take a bus to the metro station, and if I just drove to a metro and parked and took the metro, that parking fee would make taking the metro cost almost as much as my work's parking garage (I work in Georgetown).

We've talked about refinancing our mortgage (we can't refinance our mountain land though, I've looked into it and I can't find a company that will refinance it since it is only land and no house). It's a 15 year mortgage that we are into our 6th year of, so we are paying less interest. This is definitely something I'd like to discuss with a financial adviser though.

Can anyone recommend an adviser?

Either make your husband do drop-off and pick-up (since he's driving all day anyway) or suck it up. Saving $1700 per year does indeed make sense.

Agree with another PP that it sounds like you don't want to really make any changes. You want everything in your life as it is now -- fine. But you either have to make cuts now, or you have to face the possibility that you will live in poverty when you are older. That is worth a slightly more inconvenient commute or asking my husband to take over drop-off duties, personally.

Parking at a metro station is $4.50 a day last I checked and there are approx 22 business days in a month, so parking at the metro instead of at work in Georgetown would save you about $200/month.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you are unwilling to make the changes needed. Since that is the case, just stop the retirement contributions.

But this is a choice that you are making. You make enough money to continue funding retirement, but you are choosing to prioritize other things. Fine, but acknowledge that it is a choice, not something that is happening to you.

Well it sounds like a couple of the suggestions wouldn't save them that much money- e.g., the truck and the mountain home if they're underwater on it. The metro vs. driving/parking depends on where she works as not everywhere is Metro-accessible (and long Metro rides have gotten expensive).

We actually did talk to a realtor about the mountain land, but we are so underwater on it it wouldn't make any sense to sell.

Depending upon if we could get anything for the truck, I am definitely willing to do that and hope that my husband would be too.

For the metro - I used to take the metro before we had DS1 and I actually preferred taking the metro over driving. However, now that DS1 is around, I do the morning school drop off for him. It wouldn't make a lot of sense to drive all the way back home after that and take a bus to the metro station, and if I just drove to a metro and parked and took the metro, that parking fee would make taking the metro cost almost as much as my work's parking garage (I work in Georgetown).

We've talked about refinancing our mortgage (we can't refinance our mountain land though, I've looked into it and I can't find a company that will refinance it since it is only land and no house). It's a 15 year mortgage that we are into our 6th year of, so we are paying less interest. This is definitely something I'd like to discuss with a financial adviser though.

Can anyone recommend an adviser?