Saturday Weigh-In and Links

Weight today is 179.0 pounds down another half pound from last week. I did great on exercise this week as I went jogging three times but also enjoyed too many late night snacks!

I was fortunate this week to win THREE books by Richard Ferri from an excellent investing site called The Dough Roller – authored by Rob whom you might know as one half of that wacky couple known as the Two Wise Acres (just for the record they are not an actual couple). I was planning to read his asset allocation book anyways since I have read rave reviews so I was pretty excited with this win.

Home Finance Series: Mortgages and the Real Cost of Ownership

Rocket Finance did the roundup for the excellent series on home ownership.

Two Wise Acres wrote about avoiding foreclosure by thinking like investors.

My Two Dollars posted My Thoughts On This Whole Mortgage Crisis And Why I Don’t Feel That Bad. This excellent post explains why David is a bit annoyed that people who overbought are getting helped by the government while fiscally responsible people (like him) don’t get anything.

Finance Freelance Life explains how renting a home and buying a home are not as different as they seem in Why renting is right for us right now.

Rocket Finance has a great post about his own real estate mistakes.

My Dollar Plan (yes, the one with 181 financial accounts) tells us a very unusual story of how she has an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) and not only is she happy with it – she doesn’t blame her mortgage broker, the government or space aliens for the fact that she has one.

Moolanomy explains Debt-To-Income Ratio and Why It Matters. This post covers why you shouldn’t spend too much of your net income on your house.

Millionaire Money Habits tries to decide between investing in stocks or real estate in Catch a Falling Knife – Buying the Housing Slump.

PaidTwice wrote an interesting post on the “Can we afford it” mentality which gets into the problem of people deciding if they can afford something (such as a house) based entirely on the monthly payments.

Debt Free Revolution talks about how maybe it’s not such a good idea to take advantage of increased equity in your house by paying off credits cards with a HELOC. (Home equity line of credit).

Remodeling This Life wrote a post about how she and her husband bought a house and totally gutted it. This post brought bad some unpleasant memories for me because of our own fixer-upper experience. She has a fair bit of advice and warnings for anyone who wants to buy a fixer upper.

Being Frugal wrote Frugal Hacks For Your Home. Looks like a “hack” is a tip.

Plonkee Money asks why anyone outside the US should care about the subprime mortgage crisis.

Cash Money Life explains how mortgage escrow accounts work. These are more common in the US although I have heard of house insurance payments being combined with mortgage payments. In a related article he discusses how his mortgage payment dropped recently because of changes in the escrow liability amounts.

Single Guy Money talks about the real cost of home ownership.

That Damned Rent vs. Buy Question @ Blueprint for Financial Prosperity

Predatory Mortgage Lending and the Subprime Market @ Chance Favors

After Foreclosure Guide to Housing: It Ain’t Easy @ DebtKid

Credit Withdrawal talks about how to avoid foreclosure.

Carnivals This Week

Carnival of Personal Finance was hosted by The Dividend Guy and we made the editor’s pick with our 4% Retirement Rule post.

Festival of Frugality was hosted by Finance Freelance Life and we also made the editor’s pick with our For Sale By Owner – The Wrong Way post.