My Mind on Mortgages

Has the housing market hit bottom yet?  In this week’s edition of The Economist magazine THIS ARTICLE was was published which points to a lot of encouraging evidence that would suggest we may be at bottom.  Here are some excerpts: *”House-ownership is beginning to look more affordable by many measures. Adjusted for inflation, prices are [...]

Since earning my CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation last year I have been asked numerous times by younger folks (I characterize “younger” in this instance to be < 40 years old) for help in determining if they are doing a good job with their finances.  Since these people typically haven’t been exposed to much long-term financial [...]

Recently the amount of student loan debt in the US surpassed the outstanding amount of credit card debt.  This is a hard pill to swallow for recent graduates whose financially-strapped parents are unable to help financially and who are facing one of the most dismal labor markets in the past 70 years.  As I blogged [...]

If you’ve been a long-time reader of this blog then you know how important I think it is for our youth to have a meaningful education in personal finance BEFORE they are exposed to the potential perils of credit at the age of 18.  I was excited this weekend when I heard that NPR’s Morning [...]

I’ve blogged a few times in the previous months about my recent fascination with the subject of “neuroeconomics”.  This is a field of study that looks at the role a person’s pschye, emotions, and/or subjective-self plays in making economic decisions.  I’m fascinated by this subject because of the gap between the body of fiscal knowledge [...]

One interesting note in this morning’s Existing-Home Sales report from the National Association of Realtors is that the investors purchasing homes comprised of 23% of January’s total.  This is up from December’s figures.  Given that most of the low down payment investment property mortgage programs have been unavailable for a couple years I speculate that [...]

Until recently I had never heard the term “cash-in” refinance nor would I have known what it meant.  Intuitively it’s not too difficult to figure out.  If a cash-out refinance is a refinance transaction where a homeowner borrows more than their existing loan balance to realize cash in their pocket then a cash-in refinance is [...]

I’ve recently received a few questions regarding the tax deductibility of mortgage insurance.  I blogged about this a while back to I thought I would re-post the link.  Click HERE.

If you were one of the many homeowner’s that refinanced in 2010 you are probably wondering if any of the costs associated with refinancing are deductible on your taxes.  You can download the IRS’s publication 936 that deals with home mortgage interest HERE.  Or, I have included some of the highlights below: Points: In general [...]

I thought I would re-post a post (can I say that?) I made back in August of 2008 concerning the tax implications of the  sale of a primary residence.  Most people know that a capital gains exclusion exists for those who meet the ownership & use tests up to $500,000 for joint filers ($250,000 for [...]