Interest Rates on the Rise

[Duncan]

2.8% for a fixed 5 year rate? and you fixed for 2.2% for how long? where are you getting your mortgage!? joel's paying 2.85 for his variable... where are you getting your loans from? JT's negative % loan rats in japan?

[Wetundies]

that's what i'm saying, variable is actually higher now. 2.2% is just for 1 year. Last year I was at 2.3 or 2.4, and that was when everyone was saying it was going up, for me, it actually went down. So rates aren't gonna go up any time soon, or at least not to 19% like in the 80s.

[nature boy]

aren't the units at the olympic village small? i haven't seen them but i thought they mentioned that on the news.

[Wetundies]

36 units sold out of 500 something. Has to be a deal there somewhere, $750 million is a really big mortgage, even at 2.2%.

[jeSteR]

[nature boy]

you're going to buy in olympic village?

to be honest, i don't mind living where i'm at. it's close to work, the food is decent and the rent is cheap and i get a lot for it. also, i have a wife who is unwilling to move and a job that prevents me from being able to afford to move anyway so i might as well just buy two new cars instead. oh wait, i already did that.

[Wetundies]

how about buy a giant RV.

[jeSteR]

[nature boy]

oh yeah, i heard about the social housing thing.
winnie and i took a walk down that area, it's not bad, especially with the metal benches to burn your butt off on a sunny day or freeze your butt on a cold day.

[Duncan]

[jeSteR]

[se7entse7en]

A few of comments from someone who doesn't really know anything:

1) My parents' mortgage was around 25%, but then again... they never had a $1,000,000 mortage. Even their second property, the one with a lake-view, was less than what 2 2011 BMW 5's cost... and this wasn't 30 years ago either, but rather relatively recently.
2) It's easier when you have a 1.5-2 person reliable income.
3) Learn from our American neighbors.
4) Be wary when every decision you make turns out to be a bad one. For example, I was paid in CND when USD was high. Got contract changed so I was paid in USD 3 months before the downturn. USD makes a brief comeback? Too bad company owes me half a year's worth of work. Company finally pays... at virtual parity. Took a 'risk' for the first time and invested in a moderate/low risk Mutual Fund only to lose much of it 3 months later... luckily it was only peanuts. I know a lot of people lost a heck of a lot more... but, do you see a trend here? Seems like there's always someone out there biting me on my arse. *sigh* After a while you just say screw it. But I'm single and don't realistically see that changing in the next 10 years... so I can.

[Duncan]

I wouldn't mind buying and renting out... that's an idea i'm exploring and even mentioned on this thread... i know tenants can be a hassle, but in the end, it'd be a big help to have someone pay me for my house while i'm renting at home here. i have to work out the numbers, but that might be more of an immediate option to get me (us) into the market and deal with the fact that with alicia's erratic income, we may not be able to sustain a mortgage and put food on the table at this time. I might just buy a place and rent it out for the next two to three years until our incomes grow a bit.

i might go see how much of a mortgage i qualify for in the new year...

[Duncan]

Oh, and i wanted to survey how much hydro/prop tax/insurance you guys pay for those of you who do have mortgages... if you don't want to spill then please don't. i just wanted to kinda get an idea as to how much i should budget for those things eventually.

and yes, i know it totally depends on where you live, what you have, and what size house you have. But seeing as i've been to all your houses and seen most of what you have, i just wanted to get a rough idea as to what would cost what...

[nature boy]

you can really cut down your utilities costs if you were smart about it. turning off lights when you're not in the room/home, unplugging things that aren't in use, stuff like that.

it actually frustrates me when i see how irresponsible we as a society are with our resources. ben was telling me that being smart about power in australia actually cut their utilities by something like 70% or something.