12 responses

  1. moneygardener
    August 24, 2007

    Thanks for the link about reading…I’ll have to start soon.

    Reply

  2. FourPillars
    August 24, 2007

    MG – it’s never too early!

    Mike

    Reply

  3. telly
    August 24, 2007

    I thought Baby Week was over?! 😉

    This is a good bit of advice. Along the same lines, my MOMA would be to buy a much smaller, less expensive house than you can afford. This isn’t always possible depending on your income and where you live but can make the biggest difference on your bottom line if you can do it.

    I’ve been noticing lately that the criteria used to determine how much house you can afford is a bit scary. The rule to remember when purchasing a new car is to make sure that you negotiate total price, NOT monthly payment (most of us know how easy that is to tweak). Yet, today people are determining how much house they can afford based on % of gross monthly pay rather than the rule of 2.5 times annual salary that used to be the norm.

    With varying downpayments and up to 40 year amortizations, I think it’s wise to use yearly income to determine total home purchase price.

    Reply

  4. telly
    August 24, 2007

    Mr. Cheap – You’re talking about investment properties at least. Imagine taking every dime the banks will give you based on a 40-yr amort. with NO cash flow (primary residence)? This is happening at an alraming rate if you ask me. No wonder RE markets are sky-rocketing!

    Reply

  5. moneygardener
    August 24, 2007

    Automatically buying a house for your maximum pre-approval amount is taken by some people to be the norm….scary…

    Reply

  6. FourPillars
    August 24, 2007

    Telly – that’s a good one. Some people buy houses based on the here and now critera ie can we make the payments, and don’t think about the future so much – ie vacations, early retirements etc.

    Mike

    Reply

  7. FrugalTrader
    August 24, 2007

    Hey Mike,

    Didn’t realize that you weren’t on my blog roll, added you today. Keep up the great work.

    Reply

  8. FourPillars
    August 24, 2007

    FT – thanks, I didn’t realize I wasn’t on your blogroll either! 🙂

    Mike

    Reply

  9. Brip Blap
    August 24, 2007

    Well, obviously I’m very flattered by all of the nice things Mike said about my blog. I’m a big fan of his blog, too, and if you’re just visiting here keep coming back, I haven’t been disappointed yet! See, there can be friendship between our nations, despite all of the differences. 🙂

    You are dead on about your advice, by the way, and I am guilty about that. I put a huge amount of effort into researching digital cameras – more than I probably put into my last car purchase, frankly because it was more FUN to research cameras. I am not a car person… but you’re right, if you aren’t ready to put the time into it, you should think twice about doing it.

    Reply

  10. FourPillars
    August 24, 2007

    Thanks BB – you’re right that we tend to spend more time on things that we are interested in like cameras, tvs, surround-sound systems, golf clubs etc.

    I guess from a financial perspective we have to bite the bullet sometime and spend more time on things we don’t necessarily like – we can treat it like work as it were.

    Mike

    Reply

  11. SavingDiva
    August 28, 2007

    Great advice! I frequnetly spend time researching things that I know more about…or have some idea of how to look into…

    I also love to red Brip Blap’s blog.

    Reply

  12. FourPillars
    August 28, 2007

    Good point SD, it’s hard to research something you are unfamiliar with (or uninterested in).

    Mike

    Reply

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