This is a switch in topics for Community Comment.  Let's talk mortgage.  Remember when your Dad told you that having a mortgage was better than renting.  Remember how it used to be that if you rented, you were essentially just throwing your money down the drain.  A mortgage would build your credit and your equity.  Today, not so much.

arliacne put me onto an article about this very subject.

Although it talks about ordinary home owners with ordinary mortgages that they are keeping up to date, it is true that foreclosures are on the upswing and the recession is still a wild animal out of control.

I have a friend who can barely make her mortgage payment, something that she has faithfully kept up for over 20 years.  But now, when she is squeezing a turnip to try to make ends meet, the mortgage company is unsympathetic and doesn't want to wait until the 5th of the month, when her husband gets paid, to accept her payment which is due on the 1st of the month.  You can hardly envy her position - she's damned from the start.  Here she is, trying to pay a mortgage that would build equity and she also can't give up and start renting because renting has become almost prohibitive.

My son and his wife have put their house up for sale to move to where her job is in Moscow, Idaho.  They have been paying for the house for about 24 months.  The majority of each payment has been in interest - so there is very little equity in the house.  Where's the value?

Anyway, I thought this was of interest.

Do you feel you are getting the true value for your home and not throwing your money away each month?

~Jeanie~ (Thanks to arliacne for this subject)

 

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