Do you own or rent?

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

And it's a decent hit. The number I remember is around 3% - so $6K for a $200K house. It's enough to keep me renting for another year or so.

And it's probably increasing, given the current situation.

Is that built into the mortgage or upfront money???

 

[ccskier]

Is that built into the mortgage or upfront money???

You can have it built in to the payment. I had it for 1 year on my first house, absolutely waste of money that the mortgage co makes you pay. I refinanced after the 1st year and got below the 80% mark.

 

[deadheadskier]

And it's a decent hit. The number I remember is around 3% - so $6K for a $200K house. It's enough to keep me renting for another year or so.

And it's probably increasing, given the current situation.

unless you have horrid credit, that number is way high. It's more like .5% most of the time or about a grand on a 200K home. That translates to $83 per month. As I said earlier though, PMI is essentially recognized by the feds as added interest on the loan and is deductible. If you think the market has bottomed where you live and you can afford to buy now, I would. Interest rates are pretty decent right now.

 

[o3jeff]

If you think the market has bottomed where you live and you can afford to buy now, I would. Interest rates are pretty decent right now.

Market is ok here and and that being said, there is quite a few multi families in town that are priced really well that I have been kicking around the idea of picking one up and become a slumlord.

 

[deadheadskier]

Market is ok here and and that being said, there is quite a few multi families in town that are priced really well that I have been kicking around the idea of picking one up and become a slumlord.

That's our plan; to become slumlords :lol:. We'll live in the small condo we bought for about two years and upgrade to something bigger at which point we'll rent out this place. Our plan is to buy a townhouse that will suit are needs for another few years and then buy a house and rent out the townhouse. Both places won't really generate income until they are paid off, but they will pay for themselves. If the market goes on a rapid upswing again, we'll sell and net a tidy profit.

 

[severine]

Market is ok here and and that being said, there is quite a few multi families in town that are priced really well that I have been kicking around the idea of picking one up and become a slumlord.

Ask Brian sometime about being a landlord. We did it for 2 years before returning to renting.

unless you have horrid credit, that number is way high. It's more like .5% most of the time or about a grand on a 200K home. That translates to $83 per month. As I said earlier though, PMI is essentially recognized by the feds as added interest on the loan and is deductible. If you think the market has bottomed where you live and you can afford to buy now, I would. Interest rates are pretty decent right now.

IIRC, that sounds about right. I think we paid 0.5% or so when we owned our multi-family house. And yes, it was built into the monthly payments. We actually had 2 payments; our regular mortgage, and the CHFA pmt which was the first-time homebuyers program in CT. Helped us bridge the gap in our finances to buy that house for a really low rate.

Not looking to own again until I'm done with school and have a decent job. Projections would put that at 4 or 5 years from now. I'm okay with that. Every time something breaks in the house, I'm so glad we're not the ones having to fix it.

 

[o3jeff]

My original plan before I bought my house was to get a three family and live on one floor and rent the other two out. I scrapped that idea since I really hate having people living that close to me and with my luck I would probably end up with a GSS living in one of them and when I go sit in the yard he would come talk my ear off.

 

[severine]

My original plan before I bought my house was to get a three family and live on one floor and rent the other two out. I scrapped that idea since I really hate having people living that close to me and with my luck I would probably end up with a GSS living in one of them and when I go sit in the yard he would come talk my ear off.

:lol: Yup, that's about what it's like owner-occupying a 3-family. Of course, I never planned on continuing to occupy the same 3-family.

If you're seriously considering it, check out the publications online about Connecticut's Landlord-Tenant laws. Most are in favor of the tenant. And if you don't follow the letter of the law, you can lose a lot of money. It also can be quite difficult and expensive to evict if it becomes necessary (luckily, we never had to). There's a great website out there, too, for landlords that's a forum like this. I don't recall the name of the site but I bet you could find it by googling. Great way to meet with other minds and figure it all out.

If you get good tenants, it's a cakewalk. BUT the laws are very specific on selecting your tenants and you have to apply the same criteria to everyone - you can't just go with whomever you "like" best. Though you do have more legal leeway if you owner-occupy.

At times like these, you may find a lot of displaced former-property owners looking for rentals. That's good and bad, depending on their circumstances. When we were rental property owners, we had a hard time finding qualified renters because interest rates were decent and the market was low, so all the good people were buying instead.

Be extremely thorough in your background and credit checks. It can make a huge difference. And like I said, same criteria for everyone. Otherwise, you can get sued.

A former colleague was also a landlord and got out because he was sick of getting sued. He was a good guy, not a slumlord. But people can sue you whether it's warranted or not, and generally speaking, many landlords get sued at some time or another. Even if you didn't do anything wrong, it's still money lost.

Pluses and negatives... you have to weigh them.

 

[o3jeff]

I am very early in thinking this whole thing out, but would seriously look seeing if I would be able to start a company(LLC?) and do this under it. I still have a ton of research to do before I do anything.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

unless you have horrid credit, that number is way high. It's more like .5% most of the time or about a grand on a 200K home. That translates to $83 per month. As I said earlier though, PMI is essentially recognized by the feds as added interest on the loan and is deductible. If you think the market has bottomed where you live and you can afford to buy now, I would. Interest rates are pretty decent right now.

It's a grand on a 200k home annually?? This is all new to me..I've never even seen this on the online mortgage calculators..

FWIW..For What It's Worth..I need to get renters insurance for my new apartment..it's going to be less than 10 dollars a month..

 

[Marc]

My house owns me.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

My original plan before I bought my house was to get a three family and live on one floor and rent the other two out. I scrapped that idea since I really hate having people living that close to me and with my luck I would probably end up with a GSS living in one of them and when I go sit in the yard he would come talk my ear off.

Ahahahahaha..there are alot worse tenants than me..it seems like all the elderly people from my building who moved into assisted living/died the past few years have been replaced by less desirable people who bump Spanish music till past midnight...

 

[deadheadskier]

Online mortgage calculators can be pretty deceptive. The generally paint a rosier picture than what is reality.

yes the grand is on the 200K annually.

 

[mattchuck2]

unless you have horrid credit, that number is way high. It's more like .5% most of the time or about a grand on a 200K home. That translates to $83 per month. As I said earlier though, PMI is essentially recognized by the feds as added interest on the loan and is deductible. If you think the market has bottomed where you live and you can afford to buy now, I would. Interest rates are pretty decent right now.

That's exactly what I pay a month for PMI.

And, unfortunately, due to a stupid rule change, Mortgages taken out before 2007 don't get that deduction for PMI. I bought my house in 2006.

So I still have another year or so of PMI (unless I finish the basement and get my house reappraised).

 

[Dr Skimeister]

I own an old farm house in semi-rural, NW NJ. The original part of the house was built in the 1880's, and has been added onto twice. Original stone foundation still intact (knocking on wood). In the basement, the original log beams are still in place, reinforced now by steel beams. House sits on 1 1/2 acre surrounded by 65 acre of state-owned "protected" land.

 

[Marc]

I own an old farm house in semi-rural, NW NJ. The original part of the house was built in the 1880's, and has been added onto twice. Original stone foundation still intact (knocking on wood). In the basement, the original log beams are still in place, reinforced now by steel beams. House sits on 1 1/2 acre surrounded by 65 acre of state-owned "protected" land.

Don't sweat it Doc. The stone foundation under the old part of my house is as strong as the day it was built, which predates yours by about 120 years. Just gotta keep em dry in the summer and tight in the winter.

 

[powderman]

accidentally voted for mortgage paid off

Can a mod change my vote to own with a mortgage?

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

accidentally voted for mortgage paid off

Can a mod change my vote to own with a mortgage?

Sorry as a future mod on here....I vote no..:uzi:

 

[ski9]

Sorry as a future mod on here....I vote no..:uzi:

I can't believe you haven't been made a mod, yet? What's up with Good Greg and his ridiculously high standards?

BOT....we have a small shore house on LBI that was built and handed down from my wife's grandfather and moved into our vacation home in the Northern Poconos when my youngest was born. Neither has a mortgage and we were never tempted to dip into the equity because we were so relieved to be out from under a huge (for us) mortgage on a house in Central Jersey.

Our Jersey mortgage was $2200/mo...taxes were $600/mo...PMI was $55/mo...insurance was $100/mo...with utilities and all the other basics, we had to come up with almost $50k a year just for overhead.

Never again.

Our biggest expense these days are season passes...as it should be.