Mortgages

Adjust Your Extra Principal Automatic Mortgage Payment When Rates Rise

I realized something important for all of you who have automatic mortgage payments and also like to automatically pay down extra principal each month. It is don’t forget to adjust your mortgage autopay amount down when rates increase. When I refinanced a primary residence loan in 2019, I decided to get a 7/1 ARM at […]

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No Regrets Getting An ARM Despite Higher Mortgage Rates

On August 1, 2020, I took out a 7/1 adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) at 2.125%. I could have gotten a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for 2.75%. However, I wanted to save 0.625% in interest. Years later, mortgage rates have zoomed higher thanks to the pandemic, massive stimulus spending, a war in Ukraine, a war in Israel,

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Paying Off Your Home May Not Provide The Joy You Expect

Thanks to reader feedback, I realized one financial move that was not included in my top financial moves to relieve stress list, was paying off your home. Even though I thought long and hard about what to put on the list, paying off your home didn’t get a dedicated bullet point, just an add-on. For

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Higher Credit Score Now Means Higher Mortgage Fees Or Rates

The higher your credit score, usually the lower your mortgage rate. Every time I went to apply for a new mortgage or refinance an existing mortgage, my mortgage lender would first ask for my credit score. If I said anything lower than a 720, they would politely tell me to look elsewhere. Before the 2008

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Was Getting An ARM Before Inflation And Rates Went Up A Bad Move?

Given inflation and mortgage rates have gone up aggressively since August 2020, was getting an ARM back then a bad move? Maybe. But I’ll argue probably not. Let me reason why. One of the best things about running Financial Samurai is having readers criticize my financial beliefs and actions. So long as the criticism is

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Why Pay Off A Negative Real Mortgage Rate When Inflation Is So High

Paying off a mortgage with a negative real interest rate is a suboptimal financial move. However, that’s exactly what I did in this unusually high inflationary environment. Bad move? Maybe. My mortgage rate was a 30-year fixed at 4.25% and the latest inflation figure was 9.1%. Therefore, it had a negative real mortgage rate of

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Why It’s Better To Pay A Small Mortgage Fee Than Get A Large Credit

Imagine getting a $55,077 mortgage credit rather than paying a mortgage fee to get a new loan. A $55,077 mortgage credit was what I was quoted for a $4.125 million, 10/6 ARM at a 3.625% rate. Surely receiving a large credit is better than paying a mortgage fee right? Not necessarily. The higher the mortgage

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Well-Qualified Borrowers Are Paying Much Lower Mortgage Rates

House prices have cooled and will likely decline in some of the hottest markets. However, on my quest to get financing to conquer my real estate FOMO, I realized a positive datapoint for the U.S. housing market. Well-qualified borrowers are paying much lower mortgage rates than the headline rates you see in the news. There

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