February 2008
Monthly Archive
Is Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) Tax Deductible?
Posted by miller on 27 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Housing/Mortgages
If you have a mortgage for more than 80% of the worth of your home then you probably already know what private mortgage insurance (PMI) is. In fact, if you opted for a borrower paid PMI loan, you have to pay it every month. Hopefully you also know that under many circumstances PMI is tax deductible, just like mortgage interest and property taxes. Continue Reading »
Borrower Paid PMI, Lender Paid PMI, & Piggyback Loans (Oh My!)
Posted by miller on 18 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Housing/Mortgages
As part of my housing search, I have been bombarded with financing options. And just as soon as I decided I wanted a 30 year fixed mortgage, I was bombarded with yet another set of options: borrower paid PMI, lender paid PMI, or piggyback loan. Despite being independent of the down payment, these options could potentially change my monthly payments by hundreds of dollars a month, and total money paid (in the end) by tens of thousands! So what are the in’s and out’s of each? Continue Reading »
Finding Money for a Down Payment on a House
Posted by miller on 14 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Housing/Mortgages
Being a prospective home buyer, one of the first questions that crossed my mind was how to come up with a down payment. In the post housing bubble age of the Credit Crunch, it is extremely hard to get full financing or other exotic loans. Down payments are, once again, important. The old convention says you need 20% down. Well, how in the world I am going to find 20%? Remember, houses have become harder to buy historically — especially for the younger crowd. Here are some ideas… Continue Reading »
Price to Rent Ratios Can Be a Bad Indicator of Housing Markets
Posted by miller on 07 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Housing/Mortgages
How many articles have you read over the last six months that use the price to rent ratio (P/R ratio) to establish exactly how over priced the current housing market is? While I am firm believer that housing is currently over priced, I personally have found the predictions of expected drops to be fairly extreme. The predictions are based off price to rent ratios, which (as the claim goes) historically revert to the mean. But I think these articles miss one very important point — cities change! Continue Reading »
Another Car Accident, but My Cell Phone & Geico Comes Through for Me
Posted by miller on 06 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Cars
Since I had chronicled my last car accident here, I figure I’ll mention this latest one too that happened last December. The quick and dirty summary is that he made a left turn in front of me in a parking lot without either stopping or looking, coming from my right. The details aren’t terribly important, but I am 100% confident it was completely his fault. Damage wasn’t too bad on either car, but even minor damage these days costs $1k+ to fix. After the accident, we exchanged information, and I got him to admit it was his fault. It occurred in my work parking lot, where we both are employed (though I don’t know him — its a very large company). After he admitted fault to me personally, I trusted him to tell his insurance what happened (oh Miller… what were you thinking?) especially since we work for the same company. You can see this one coming a mile away, right? Continue Reading »
When Fed Rates Go Down, Mortgage Rates can (and did!) Go Up!
Posted by miller on 04 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Housing/Mortgages, Investing, Personal Finance
Conventional wisdom says that when the Feds cut rates, mortgages rates go down. However, it is also possible for mortgage rates to in fact increase! This is exactly what happened last week when the Feds provided a second significant rate cut in as many weeks. Why does this make sense? We must separate the long term and short term effects of rate cuts. Continue Reading »
