I closed on the mortgage on Halloween day (last year) and have had no problem making the payments. Granted, I wish I had more free cash after making all my payments. I have a Nissan Frontier (2001) Crew Cab that is approaching 100,000 miles (but it is paid for). I have a Citibank Premier Pass Card with a 14.24 interest rate (but never pay any interest as I only use it to pay for gas at the pump). I'm anticipating a more lucrative job within the next few months as I recently graduated with my Bachelor's Degree and have began receiving positive interviews at other potential employers...
About my mortgage: I purchased it after my brother was married and think it was a great deal. He left the house fully furnished (LCD television, furniture, fridge, washer and dryer... pretty much everything but the bedroom) and asked for only $93,000... I wish the house were bigger (it's only about 1100 square feet) but enjoy having three free acres to work with if needed. Since I had never had a credit card and the truck payment was in my Dad's name (even though I paid the payments), I had limited credit experience (just one $500 loan from the local bank from a few years back that was used to purchase a PS2 a NASCAR game and GTA3) and ended up with a mortgage rate of 7.25% which gives me a payment of $715 a month (including escrows). Whenever I feel it won't come back to bite me, I squeeze another $100 a month into the house payment (since I have no vehicle payment). That extra $100 ends up pushing me just over 50% of my bring home pay... I pay my DISH Network yearly (which chews up about $575 / year)... My electric bill is rarely above $70... I signed on to a great deal with my phone company and get both basic phone service and DSL for $60 / month. I have about $250 / month to play around with... (don't laugh)....
Of that, I would like to put $12 / month into satellite radio service...
Is it possible to save money and make a lump some payment (possibly around $10,000) and then request that the payment be readjusted to a lower amount? The bank told me I could refinance after about a year (but I'm not sure that is a great decision as the closing costs would push my loan higher than the one I have now). Finally, should I just keep paying the mortgage payment as is?? My brother (and others) insist that $715 a month isn't all that much... But he's married and has a second income to work with... As for the extra $100 a month... The reason I try to make that payment is because it should cut off about 10 - 12 years of my mortgage (and a great deal of interest) based on calculator results I have played around with. Do I try and have GMAC readjust the payment after paying a couple of thousand down, refinance later this year, or leave things as they are? Also, what about interest only loans over 5 or 10 year periods? I'm assuming you could pay more than the interest each month (which would give you a lower monthly payment when it matured)? Risky (because of interest rates).... but it might be worth looking into.
About my mortgage: I purchased it after my brother was married and think it was a great deal. He left the house fully furnished (LCD television, furniture, fridge, washer and dryer... pretty much everything but the bedroom) and asked for only $93,000... I wish the house were bigger (it's only about 1100 square feet) but enjoy having three free acres to work with if needed. Since I had never had a credit card and the truck payment was in my Dad's name (even though I paid the payments), I had limited credit experience (just one $500 loan from the local bank from a few years back that was used to purchase a PS2 a NASCAR game and GTA3) and ended up with a mortgage rate of 7.25% which gives me a payment of $715 a month (including escrows). Whenever I feel it won't come back to bite me, I squeeze another $100 a month into the house payment (since I have no vehicle payment). That extra $100 ends up pushing me just over 50% of my bring home pay... I pay my DISH Network yearly (which chews up about $575 / year)... My electric bill is rarely above $70... I signed on to a great deal with my phone company and get both basic phone service and DSL for $60 / month. I have about $250 / month to play around with... (don't laugh)....
Of that, I would like to put $12 / month into satellite radio service... Is it possible to save money and make a lump some payment (possibly around $10,000) and then request that the payment be readjusted to a lower amount? The bank told me I could refinance after about a year (but I'm not sure that is a great decision as the closing costs would push my loan higher than the one I have now). Finally, should I just keep paying the mortgage payment as is?? My brother (and others) insist that $715 a month isn't all that much... But he's married and has a second income to work with... As for the extra $100 a month... The reason I try to make that payment is because it should cut off about 10 - 12 years of my mortgage (and a great deal of interest) based on calculator results I have played around with. Do I try and have GMAC readjust the payment after paying a couple of thousand down, refinance later this year, or leave things as they are? Also, what about interest only loans over 5 or 10 year periods? I'm assuming you could pay more than the interest each month (which would give you a lower monthly payment when it matured)? Risky (because of interest rates).... but it might be worth looking into.
