Shopping for a mortgage

[grabtindy]

Colorado - Quoted 3.375% for a 30 year fixed on an investment property w/ 25% down.

[liv2ski]

Going, going...

[alembical]

We were just quoted 2.25 for fixed 15 year or 2.5 for cash out ($50k for HELOC) 15 year. 30 year was 2.875 for both options. For some reason I do not understand 20 year rates were higher than both from 2 different lenders

[slcdawg]

Closed today with the same terms. Thanks again for the rec!

And I closed 2 days ago on 2.375% for a 30 year, lender credit covered all fees so only cost was the prepaids.

[criscam]

maybe a jong-ish question that may have been covered but...
working on a re-fi. debating on 15 vs 30 (and re-invest). seems like people are somewhat split on which is better and obviously depends on situation. some info:
15-ish years from retirement. prob not in our current house much longer than that. if we did the 30 we'd either pay additional into the mortgage ea month or "invest" it somewhere (market, land, etc). not a big finance guy so...
mrs leaning 15 to just get it over with. i'm leaning 30 to have a little more flexibility/security in case something goes "awry" (job loss-not likely, etc).
any general consensus?

[whyturn]

maybe a jong-ish question that may have been covered but...
working on a re-fi. debating on 15 vs 30 (and re-invest). seems like people are somewhat split on which is better and obviously depends on situation. some info:
15-ish years from retirement. prob not in our current house much longer than that. if we did the 30 we'd either pay additional into the mortgage ea month or "invest" it somewhere (market, land, etc). not a big finance guy so...
mrs leaning 15 to just get it over with. i'm leaning 30 to have a little more flexibility/security in case something goes "awry" (job loss-not likely, etc).
any general consensus?

15 was best I ever did. Pay it off and live in it. Paying more in payment but way less interest. First 5 of a 30 is almost pure interest. 15 FTW


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[Name Redacted]

maybe a jong-ish question that may have been covered but...
working on a re-fi. debating on 15 vs 30 (and re-invest). seems like people are somewhat split on which is better and obviously depends on situation. some info:
15-ish years from retirement. prob not in our current house much longer than that. if we did the 30 we'd either pay additional into the mortgage ea month or "invest" it somewhere (market, land, etc). not a big finance guy so...
mrs leaning 15 to just get it over with. i'm leaning 30 to have a little more flexibility/security in case something goes "awry" (job loss-not likely, etc).
any general consensus?

Personally, I'd always do the 30 for the reasons you mentioned and many more. Especially if you are just going to sell the house in 15 years anyway.

[Cruiser]

The rate difference is probably relatively insignificant. The real trick is that the interest is front loaded into the amortization schedule. So you'll pay less principal during the time you live there with the 30 than the 15, assuming you sell in 15y when you retire. But the flexibility of having a lower payment should give you the ability to invest the extra $$$ each month into vehicles that pay a little better dividend than you're paying out in mortgage interest.

You can check out a generic amortization schedule calculator to see where you'd land in terms of your principal balance and total interest paid after 15y on a 30y loan just to see how the difference looks with actual numbers plugged into the equation. But the short version is that, after 15y on a 30y loan you'll still owe >60% of your original principal amount.

[Danno]

For me, I would have to be pretty secure in my income AND the 15 rate would have to be a lot better to go 15 instead of 30. You can run a calculator to see what it would take to pay down the 30 in 15, and compare that to what the 15 costs, and decide if it's worth that savings (which is your best case scenario). Of course, another squishy factor is how disciplined you are, would you pay down the principal if you had a 30, or would you actually invest it, or would you piss it away. And does that all matter for your retirement. Nobody can answer those questions for you.

[mcf258]

maybe a jong-ish question that may have been covered but...
working on a re-fi. debating on 15 vs 30 (and re-invest). seems like people are somewhat split on which is better and obviously depends on situation. some info:
15-ish years from retirement. prob not in our current house much longer than that. if we did the 30 we'd either pay additional into the mortgage ea month or "invest" it somewhere (market, land, etc). not a big finance guy so...
mrs leaning 15 to just get it over with. i'm leaning 30 to have a little more flexibility/security in case something goes "awry" (job loss-not likely, etc).
any general consensus?

The safest route is 30 year w extra payments. Perhaps fully funding a Roth IRA before making any extra mtge payments would be a way of maximizing your wealth. You have a 15 year plus time line so a plain vanilla US stock index fund would be a relatively conservative approach.

[criscam]

messed w some calculators. basically if i went 30 and just re-invested back into the mortgage and paid the same monthly as the 15, i'd be done in 16 years and have paid around $25k "extra" than if i had just went 15. so one question is if $25k worth some security/flexibility. yea only i can answer that.
we're pretty disciplined and would think if we invested in different ways (other than right back in) we'd periodically dump that money back into the mortgage to start cutting it down sooner.

[AdironRider]

I have a 30 and I pay the equivalent of a 15 year at a .5% lower rate each month. I think the flexibility is worth it, like when my well pump went out this summer. Can't exactly stretch out that repair, not exactly DIY, and cost 3.5k to fix at a moment's notice. Yeah didn't pay extra that month. If I was on a 15 year my lifestyle would have been affected and I'm not that into that sacrifice now that I have a kid and limited free time. I'm 5 years in on a 3.875 and I could conceivably refi, but at the end of the loan I'll have paid it off in just under 20 years (given the occasional missed extra principal payment) at an effective interest rate of around 2.875. Doesn't seem worth it to restart the clock or pay the closing costs to me.

The big risk is job loss of course. Maybe you have some savings to ride it out but most would be stressing a 15 year. On a 300k mortgage that is an extra 6-700 bucks a month ish. Average mortgage in this country is now well above that number also. Pretty much everyone loses a job once in their career.

Key to happiness is low overhead. The spread on the interest payments is not a lot of money over the life of a mortgage and I like the idea of sleeping soundly for the decades I'm paying it off.

[Name Redacted]

Criscam, you need to calculate what your returns would be if you invested the difference in payment monthly into a relatively low risk index fund.

Use a TVM calculator:
https://online-calculator.org/time-v...alculator.aspx

I'm guessing that it'll be a lot more than $25K.

[jm2e]

I always seem to be living at the limit of my affordability. The idea of making extra payments or going with a shorter term are laughable in my house.


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[liv2ski]

I always seem to be living at the limit of my affordability. The idea of making extra payments or going with a shorter term are laughable in my house.


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Sorry to hear that mang. I hate it when I am feeling stretched.

[glademaster]

Never had a mortgage before, looks like that may change soon. Any recommendations for a broker in Colorado, or should I just poke around local banks/credit unions? First time home buyer, sizeable down payment, good credit score, minimal current debt, etc.

[skaredshtles]

Never had a mortgage before, looks like that may change soon. Any recommendations for a broker in Colorado, or should I just poke around local banks/credit unions? First time home buyer, sizeable down payment, good credit score, minimal current debt, etc.

Don't do it!

[liv2ski]

PM Danno, sounds like he had a solid source.

[Name Redacted]

Never had a mortgage before, looks like that may change soon. Any recommendations for a broker in Colorado, or should I just poke around local banks/credit unions? First time home buyer, sizeable down payment, good credit score, minimal current debt, etc.

Too late. All the mortgages are gone. Better luck next time.

[puma]

And I closed 2 days ago on 2.375% for a 30 year, lender credit covered all fees so only cost was the prepaids.

Nice. We locked last Monday I believe. 2.375% for a 30 year also. I am a mortgage novice, so really not sure about all the terms...but we have 0 in origination charges. Charges I am not sure I could have found better are: Closing Fee, Lenders Title Insurance, Appraisal Fee and Appraisal Final Inspection Fee? Danno, You are saying you are paying none of these, besides prepaids which are Homeowners insurance, Property tax, and Mortgage Insurance, right?

Hopefully, I did not ass out and could have gotten better, but went with my trusted credit union, and also got a decent chunk back in credits from the lender for closing costs. (I could have gotten 2.25% but that credit would have been a charge, but a tad less) Anyway...stoked to get out of this rental, reasonably comfortable with our monthly payments, and excited to be in our sunny new locale, where it never rains, right up next to the cascades...

[alembical]

Locked in yesterday with a 15 year, 2.25% with no points and not even an appraisal needed.

[Skidog]

I have a 30 and I pay the equivalent of a 15 year at a .5% lower rate each month. I think the flexibility is worth it, like when my well pump went out this summer. Can't exactly stretch out that repair, not exactly DIY, and cost 3.5k to fix at a moment's notice.
.

WOW how damned deep is your well? My pump went out about 3 weeks ago...had it repaired within about 5 hours (175feet down) for $1800....I sure hope your well is deep sounds like a lot for a well pump, but ive only replaced one so...

[AdironRider]

WOW how damned deep is your well? My pump went out about 3 weeks ago...had it repaired within about 5 hours (175feet down) for $1800....I sure hope your well is deep sounds like a lot for a well pump, but ive only replaced one so...

Nope, 120 feet, and the pump sits at about 75. I'm stuck paying a 'Teton Tax', because all the well guys in Idaho Falls assume I'm rich because of where I live. There is a lot of building going on here and 4 out of the 5 well guys here didn't even call me back.

It's also a constant pressure system, which I really like, but the entire system is more expensive.

I did make sure to be that guy who hovers over the worker the entire time, and I think I can pull it off myself when this one goes in 20 years or so. Pretty expensive tutorial though.

[MiddleOfNight]

Never had a mortgage before, looks like that may change soon. Any recommendations for a broker in Colorado, or should I just poke around local banks/credit unions? First time home buyer, sizeable down payment, good credit score, minimal current debt, etc.

had a few with wells fargo, good customer service with Jody in Aspen.
but they didn't have the best rate when I refi'd the other week.
Bay Equity in Glenwood, Mike Picore, had great rates and application was fast/easy. ymmv.

[Skidog]

Nope, 120 feet, and the pump sits at about 75. I'm stuck paying a 'Teton Tax', because all the well guys in Idaho Falls assume I'm rich because of where I live. There is a lot of building going on here and 4 out of the 5 well guys here didn't even call me back.

It's also a constant pressure system, which I really like, but the entire system is more expensive.

I did make sure to be that guy who hovers over the worker the entire time, and I think I can pull it off myself when this one goes in 20 years or so. Pretty expensive tutorial though.

The only thing I think would be hard is the connection. They used the truck lift to pull mine and the connection is down 12" into a pipe. Aside from that I agree, seems simple. Few connections, reconnect electric and done...

Sorry for thread drift. I imagined there had to be a special circumstance. We had to call a few well folks but got one within an hour.. but damned $3500 woof.