PART ONE—BUYING A NEW HOME
By Kevin M
In response to the mortgage meltdown/real estate slump of the past two to three years, the U.S. government has intervened with the take over of FNMA and FHLMC to insure the free flow of mortgage money, interest rates are being held down to the 5% level and an $8000 home buyer credit has been put in place to stimulate activity.
But should you as a homeowner take the bait and either trade up to a new and more expensive home, or perhaps refinance into a lower interest rate loan?
I’m going to take the contrarian’s view and argue against either course.
The “Boring” Benefits of Staying in Your House and Paying Off the Mortgage—PART TWO
PART TWO—REFINANCING YOUR CURRENT MORTGAGE AND CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
By Kevin M
Yesterday, in Part One of this series, we took a look at the largely hidden costs of purchasing a new home. Today we’ll take a similar look at the hidden costs of refinancing your current home to determine if doing so is truly in your best long term financial interest.
Refinancing is far less expensive than buying a new home, of course, but the decision to refinance your mortgage to a lower rate isn’t always as clear cut as it seems.
With refinances, people tend to be obsessed with rate. But let me offer that rate alone can be a deceptive metric.
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