This is for all the stuff too small for its own post.
1. "All Financial Matters" didn't deliberately disappear, but was hacked. JLP is back and my links now work to the blog. Thanks to my readers for helping me get this straightened out.
2. Guilt-trips rock! Julie (formerly Immer) at "Mein Taglich Brot" is back both in blogland and on my blogroll. Dawn? Bluebird? KemKem? Tell me the guilt isn't getting to you!
3. The roof is caving in. Both literally and financially. The bill for re-roofing my rental is $4800. I took the second-lowest bid because it's the same outfit that redid the windows three years ago, and I liked their work. But to come up with it, I now have a THIRD mortgage on my residence. Just the term 'third mortgage' gives me goosebumps. But my credit union wouldn't or couldn't extend the terms of my second mortgage. Instead, they will give me a third mortgage at .5% higher than my second (which means 7.25%, fixed) with a credit line of $10,000 for 15 years. My plan is to finish out the line of my second mortgage (about $2600) and put the rest of the roof onto the third mortgage. What makes this a tad less scary is that I only owe $38,000 on my home so there is plenty of equity. It does strike me as odd to carry mortgages on my residence when the funds have largely been used to fix up my rental home. But because the credit union is local and the rental is not, the credit union is only interested in my current residence.
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Contact Grace: Gracefulretire@aol.com
Getting a late start on retirement saving and debt reduction in middle age with a middle class income.
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Contact Grace: Gracefulretire@aol.com
About Me
- Grace.
- I'm 63, a single mom, getting a late start on my retirement. Travel along as I reduce debt, increase savings and get myself situated for retirement one of these days.
Personal Finance and Retirement Blogs I Read
- A Gai Shan Life
- All Financial Matters
- Always the Planner
- Bargaineering
- Beach Girl's Budget Blog
- Blogging Away Debt
- Boxcar Kids
- Buck$omeboomer's Financial Path to Retirement
- Cents To Save
- Debt-Free By 50
- Digging Out From Our Mess
- Fabulously Broke In The City
- Financially Free To Be Me
- Frugal Texas Gal
- Frugal Zeitgeist
- Fumbling At Joy
- Get Rich Slowly
- Go To Retirement
- Grumpy Rumblings of the Untenured
- Happy Health--Senior Living & Health
- Just A Backpack And A Rollie
- Last Third of My Life
- Life Doesn't Begin at Retirement
- Man v. Debt
- Mighty Bargain Hunter
- Mortgaged Life
- Musings of a Midlife Mom
- Mutant Supermodel
- My Journey to Eliminate Debt
- My Retirement Blog
- My Wealth Builder
- No Credit Needed
- Noho'ana Hau'ole: Life is Good
- Out of Debt Again
- Personal Finance By the Book
- Planning to Retire
- Rest of Our Days
- Retire In Style
- Retirement Daze
- Retirement: A Full-time Job
- Ruminations
- Satisfying Retirement
- Savvy Working Gal
- Simple Dollar
- Surviving and Thriving
- Tessie's Awesome Blog
- The Next Stage: Women & Retirement
- The Retirement Planning Community
- Time Cheapskate Blog
- Tough Money Love
- Towards Retirement With Debt
- What Fresh Hell Is This? A Winsome Look at Life after 50
- Yes, I Am Cheap
12 comments:
Unless your credit is bad, you have been screwed by that credit union. They gave you very bad advice. If you needed the money, you could have refinanced the first and second and taken out the small amount of cash needed in one first mortgage. Your 30 year rate should have been around 4.5 percent with no points and the 15 year rate would have been even lower. Please talk to at least three good mortgage brokers and a couple of banks to see what your options are.
Anon,
I do get your point, but I am 61. There is no way I want a 15 year first mortgage when I only have 4 years to go on the one I have, AND it is a fairly low rate already. I don't think my credit union is screwing me, but neither are they doing me huge favors.
Grace:
When do you think you will pay off all three mortgages? If you could refinance the entire anount on a 15 year no cost mortgage and then pay extra principal payments so the loan is paid off in the same amount of time, you still might save a significant amount of money. Do the math, then decide.
Anon - While rates overall are lower now, just being able to get a mortgage is infinately tougher!
And in a great many cases you won't find the lower rates w/o paying points. Just do a Lending Tree search and you'll see.
:(
Keep on trucking. What's success without setbacks?
Grace:
Lending Tree is one of the worst places to get a mortgage. Credit unions don't always offer the best deal either. You need a good mortgage broker who will shop your loan to a number of wholesale lenders for the best deal. Compare rates from several places that you actually call. I rhink you will be pleasantly surprised.
I am glad that you were able to get the money to get your roof fixed. As for as taking the 2nd bid ... cheapest is not always the best.
Thanks for posting that
Mein Taglich Brot was back.
Have a great day!
Deb
I agree with Anon, you should consider refinancing into one mortgage and you should just prepay it.
Anon - Dunno about a broker. A broker got MasterPo's first mortgage, a 3yr ARM. He didn't really explain the ARM thing. MasterPo knew it was adjustable but not that adjustable! Wouldn't call it "predatory" but not fully explained either.
Dang, home ownership is expensive..and it never ends!
Refinancing a mortgage is never easy...unless it is a streamline. And it can be expensive. Stick to your plan to pay it off as quickly as possible.
$4800 is pretty good. I am figuring about $8000 for my roof. Fortunately it is all paid for otherwise. HELC may be the way to go for me.
Our roof still leaks. And when you look at it from the outside, you can see waves in it (it's not a level A-frame roof anymore--it's kind of lumpy!) I don't know how, even if I can come up with some money, it is going to get fixed this fall. DH weighs so much, I'm afraid to have him up there when the roof is clearly rotten....and with him working and me working, when are we going to have time to have his brother up to help???? Yikes yikes. Scares me to death.
But then I do the ostrich thing and pretend it'll all be fine, because at this moment that's all I can do.
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