My Mind on Mortgages

Here’s an article I read recently: During my twenties, I accumulated nearly $25,000 in consumer debt. I had a spending problem. With time, I was able to get my spending under control (mostly), but I still owned overwhelming debt. How could I get rid of it? The personal finance books all suggested the same approach: [...]

I originate very few 15 year mortgages. The reason? I believe that cash is king. Given that mortgage rates are at historical low levels I would rather see my clients take out a 30 year amortizing mortgage and invest the difference instead of potentially creating a cash-trap with a 15 year loan. Here’s an article [...]

In this weekend’s Barron’s there was an article that featured a Q & A with Merrill Lynch Chief Economist David Rosenburg. He is credited with calling the current economic slowdown far before anyone else and makes interesting predictions about American Households’ spending patterns in the future: Here is a excerpt from the article: Q: Will [...]

The purpose of this article is to give consumers a guide for determining whether or not a proposed refinance makes financial sense for them. Through my interactions with many of my clients over the years I’ve found that much of the population is left confused when evaluating mortgage refinance options. I hope that I can [...]

For most of our clients, the idea of a “no closing cost” (NCC) refinance seems too good to be true. We think that these loans are great tools for helping our clients save money; but it is critical that our clients understand how they work. The purpose of this posting is to explain how we [...]

A Fate Worse Than Debt: Are You a Walking Junk Bond? By JONATHAN CLEMENTS March 19, 2008; Banks are shaky. Bonds are suffering cuts in their credit ratings. Even bond insurers are hurting. Next up for a downgrade: people. As the economy sputters and the housing market slumps, folks are struggling to pay their bills, [...]

There was a great article in Consumer Reports that was sent to me recently by a colleague. Consumer reports ran some hypothetical scenarios where a person had the option of either investing or prepaying their mortgage by $100 per month. The results? You’re better off investing the money in the long-run. Check out their article [...]