Open House Picks: Six Months Later
Comment: Freeze! Open House Picks 10/03/08 [Brownstoner] Previous Six Months Later Posts [Brownstoner]
Comment: Freeze!
Open House Picks 10/03/08 [Brownstoner]
Previous Six Months Later Posts [Brownstoner]
brickoven’s writing style and lack of punctuation and capitalization definitely smack of corner bodega’s uniquely pathetic style.
brickoven…I haven’t seen someone as dense as you on here in a long time. Are you cornerbodega???
You throw out a statement about numbers of ARMs and I ask you to show me the numbers and all you can do is act like a child. pathetic really.
Dave, don’t be offended by brickoven. I’m an idiot with an ARM so we’re in good company. I’m just grateful that there are folks on this board like brick and what that are so much smarter than we are and can educate us.
In the four years I’ve had my house, estimate the savings from my ARM versus Jumbo 30-year fixed rates when I bought at around $20,000. Brickoven’s right. Boy do I feel . . . well, idiotic.
11217 – yeh but if you lose your income while renting, you’re not losing your 20% down payment + years of mortgage payments, like you are if you get foreclosed upon.
Oh no…I totally agree Joe. Fixed rate is the way to go.
I was just playing devil’s advocate on too little sleep.
Alas. There will be no muff diving.
11217 — I agree that you want to have your house paid off by the time you retire, but why not get that done with a fixed rate mortgage?
I see your point– inflation would cause rent to rise just as it causes ARM payments to rise, and theoretically your income should be rising too.
but if you can’t afford your rent you can always move without bankrupting yourself.
Actually travy, from my recent visits to open houses, I do think sellers are starting to be willing to entertain significantly lower offers. At least, that’s what brokers are asking me to do – make an offer, even if it’s way below ask. But I think sellers are then doing themselves a dis-service by pricing so high since they put off buyers and generate a lot less interest. Ironically, if they priced lower to begin with (esp if they’re willing to entertain a much lower price) they might do better by getting more bids from pent up demand. The big problem is what that “lower” price should be. For example, with the South Slope 11th Street, I’d say 900K max, and they might do better with 800-850K. Compared to what that house was worth in 2000, that’s still a very high price! Of course, I’m speaking as one of those buyers that refuses to pay peak prices, even though I technically could afford to do so. If an ask was 30-40% below peak, I would probably jump in, but given the run-up, and what I view as inevitable big declines, I see no point jumping in before I see some very big discounts. Indeed, I’m very happy to be renting in the meantime (esp since rents are pretty soft right now, and getting softer).
“It’s already a huge bet to make over a 30y period that you’ll always have income to pay your mortgage — why add the chance for it to double or triple? I remember rates above 15% from the late 70s.”
How is this different than renting? Don’t you need to continue finding sources of income to pay that also…?
From my understanding, NYC rents double about every 10 years or so.
And that continues into retirement when you’re living on a fixed income, while many homeowners have finished paying off their homes by that point.