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5th Gen Ownership - Official Random Thoughts Thread - V3


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Correct me of I'm wrong but you pay less interest if you pay towards your principal balance. Here's my thought.

 

There's ARM loans that offer really low rates, around 3.2-3.6%. They can only raise it a certain percentage every few years, depending which one you go for. Couldn't we go for say, a 5/5 ARM. Which means they raise or lower every 5 years, take advantage of the lower interest, pay down the principle and when it comes time for the rate to change, we could always refinance if we don't like it?

 

Yes, the interest is calculated based on the principal balance owed.

 

I am not that familiar with a 5/5 Arm. I had a 7/1 Arm. You would have to check the fees, terms and fine print of how the 5/5 is calculated. They aren't that common. I looked up the 5/1 and 7/1 Arm interest rates and at this point the saving is not very enticing compared to a 30 year fixed. Sometimes their is a big gap between them. The 15 years mortgages look pretty enticing right now. You can refinance (and pay for the refinance) to get out of an adjustable rate mortgage or any mortgage. For instance, I refinanced my house years ago to get out of PMI, because the values had gone up. I also refinanced to get lower interest rates.

 

Note: In the last 10 years we have had historically low interest rates. I can not guarantee the interest rates will go up, but I would guess they are going to go up. I bet some people have spoiled by the low interest environment the country has been in.

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So talked to a local credit union. Our best rate will be about 4.75% for a 30 year fixed. If anything we'll just have to pay PMI for a few months to a year. Went to see a house today. It's pretty nice for what they're asking and I'd even go lower. 2 bedroom upstairs, bath, large living room, kitchen dining room area, two bedroom in basement with another smaller living area with a shower and sink, as well as the laundry room. Semi enclosed small upper deck off the kitchen which goes down to a stone patio that's covered. Has an attached garage with a gas heater.

 

Fits just about all the things we're looking for. House needs a little bit of TLC and carpet appears to be a few years old. Still looking around but it's not bad.

 

The realtor I met with is local so he'll be a big help. He knows the area really well and and what houses in certain areas will cost. As well as what we'd pay for property tax in different areas. I told him what we're looking for and he'd keep me updated with anything he finds.

 

Exciting stuff. I'm just gonna be super happy to finally have an enclosed garage and can stop laying on freezing ground doing oil changes :lol: Not to mention stop lugging laundry out of the apartment.

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I don't know if your local government is like mine here, but the property appraiser has a website you can search the owner, street address, or lot no to find the previous years taxes, values, sales prices etc. Along with improvements and years they were made.
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That's helpful, FL. We did think about kids which is why we're staying in Vermilion. If we're far enough out in the country it'd be Firelands school district.

 

Zillow does have the property taxes and all the stuff you mentioned for different houses. I can't believe how much they vary for certain parts of town. You can be paying up to $60-70 more a month just by being on a different part of town.

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I'd be paying at least 40% higher property taxes if I was down in Oshkosh, but go 15 minutes north and it's way different. It's almost that drastic just going across the city limits, too. Look up "[your county] county GIS" on the google, and see if they have something there- you can usually find quite a bit of info on the property, taxes, zoning, assessment, etc.. Speaking of which, mine's showing something about interest being due on the taxes for last year, and nobody has sent me a tax bill, better call someone up and see what's going on there...

 

Couple things I missed earlier:

- You can probably get pre-approved for way more than you actually want to spend, and there's nothing saying you actually have to spend that much.

- 2 full baths (or 1.5 with a layout that would let me turn that last one into a full) was pretty much a must for me- you might be okay with 1.5 now, but consider whether you really want to have to share a single shower/bath with the whole family, especially if everyone is trying to get out the door at the same time. I'd rather have the water heater be the weak link than the quantity of showers.

- Unless you plan on making the minimum monthly payment and taking the loan all the way out to term, buying points isn't really worth it.

 

The seller that list their house with a realtor pays the agree upon commission between the buyer and sellers agent. If one didn't have a buyers agent the sellers agent would collect the entire amount. If the house is FSBO, then no realtors are used and no commission is paid. I think a buyer can have a real estate agent and buy a FSBO property with out the realtor. (You can always ask) In general most FSBO also go for less because they aren't advertised on MLS site, so they have less exposure and competition between buyers.

 

Yup. That's also part of the thing about not signing a buyer's contract, you wouldn't be under any obligation to use that realtor for your purchase, and you don't have to worry about a realtor not wanting to show you a particular property. I'd probably feel bad about doing that if the realtor was the one who showed me the property, but if I found it myself on Zillow or something, and it was within the scope of what I'd told the realtor I was looking for (meaning they could have seen it if they looked beyond MLS listings), I'd get over it pretty quick.

 

I never got around to talking to a realtor, and it saved me $10k. Planning pays off later, procrastination pays off right now!

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That brings up another important consideration, where we live is in city limits so trash and sewer is provided by and controlled by our city. A street over is county and has a different trash and sewer service. Our service is way way better, we have debris, furniture, construction debris pickup all within the week, I've seen couches sit for weeks waiting on the county service. And their taxes are higher.
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So the weather has been kinda crazy here in southern New Jersey lately. One day torrential down pours the next its beautiful in the 60s then back down in the 20s with snow. Alot of this moisture and fluctuating temperatures and all the sudden I notice a ton of moisture in one of my headlights. Such a bummer, does anyone have any easy fixes to get rid of it? Edited by 02LGTSNJ
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Hey! I'm turning 28 this year. I'm not old yet
Oh you're old Timmy, especially for those #becauseracecar WRX/STI kids.

Dude, like nearly too old to own a Subaru bruh!

 

And as inconceivable as it may be, many of us still on here are *sigh* even much 'older-er'

(highly technical term, loosely equivalent to can't compute old).

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So the weather has been kinda crazy here in southern New Jersey lately. One day torrential down pours the next its beautiful in the 60s then back down in the 20s with snow. Alot of this moisture and fluctuating temperatures and all the sudden I notice a ton of moisture in one of my headlights. Such a bummer, does anyone have any easy fixes to get rid of it?
Hair dryer on hot and high via the high beam socket with the position light and/or low beam removed.

Vaccum cleaner rigged to attach to same socket for 30-90 minutes.

Or crack them open, silica gel packs all along the bottom below the reflector and a fresh layer or retrofitsource butyl rubber or latest and greatest sealant.

 

If all else fails, new assemblies.

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