Comments on: Changing priorities, part two

By: Melinda

Melinda — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:20:25 +0000

Have you considered a mortgage offset account. I’m assuming that you have them in the US! You can have your extra money available to you in an offset account, but meanwhile it’s reducing the interest on your mortgage. Yes you would lose that little bit of interest, but you would be saving interest on your mortgage.

By: Peggy

Peggy — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:36:33 +0000

I sort of had the same thought but I think I agree that it makes more sense to stash the money in savings vs. toward the mortgage because it is more liquid that way. You have a good interest rate on the house so it’s not going to cost you much to buy that liquidity and that liquidity might really come in handy in a move. You need earnest money at the least if you buy used and if you buy new, the cash outlay prior to closing can be really high. Also, it might buy you more flexibility on closing dates if you don’t have all your resources tied up in the old house. If for some reason you needed to carry both mortgages for a while, this would help you do so. Buying a home and moving is expensive, no two ways about it, so having some extra $ in liquid savings makes a lot of sense to me. Maybe split the difference and start saving 1/2 and still paying 1/2 since you are quite a ways from your potential move date?

By: bluntmoney

bluntmoney — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:27:43 +0000

Yes, we have considered solar and will probably do that at some point if we stay. Water reclamation I hadn’t thought about though. Is that possible when it hardly rains? :)

By: Tread Softly

Tread Softly — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:08:09 +0000

Have you ever considered investing in ways that will make your home more sustainable as well as increase its worth? Every home is different, but solar panels and water reclamation tools are tried and true in the southwest, and almost always increase the worth of the home while decreasing your dependence on “trucked-in” resources.