Mortgages - UGH!

**taunyar** · 08-17-2007, 12:51 PM

Ok, so my mortgage is the reason I need to be so frugal. We remodeled, refinanced to get the money out we used to remodel and put into savings.

Now the savings has lost 13% and I'm panicing! I told dh it would have been better to leave the amount in the house equity and have a lower mtg payment.

And...you don't even want to know what my mortgage is, it's scary

Still...we want to stay and we can afford it if we get a more tighter budget. Am I the only one who is frugal and has a very high mortgage??

**mommy4ever** · 08-17-2007, 12:55 PM

Where did you put the savings? If it's losing, it's time to do some changes. Or you are way behind. It would make more sense to reduce the mortgage than lose money on it.

**Juto** · 08-17-2007, 01:20 PM

We bought our home based off of one income. Both of us work but I would never want the stress of a large mortgage payment. Granted, due to where I live it is higher compared to other parts of the country.

**sdrjeolsen** · 08-17-2007, 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by taunyar

And...you don't even want to know what my mortgage is, it's scary

Still...we want to stay and we can afford it if we get a more tighter budget. Am I the only one who is frugal and has a very high mortgage??

You're not the only one frugal with a very high mortgage. Mine is over 500 thousuand, in fact I was hesitant to put it in my siggy, but I am motivated with seeing progress, so I put it there. Ours is because we live in an expensive area. My dh still commutes 40 min. In the town where he works, 1 or 2 million dollar homes are the norm. We are pretty much frugal by choice. we've mostly always chosen to live well within our means except for about an 18 month slip up many many years ago. We are chosing to be super frugal and put the extra on the mortgage to hopefully pay it off in half the time, I just can't stand paying all that interest to someone else

For us it means constantly and consciously sticking to the plan...for years...and years.

Hang in there and know that the tight budget is worth it. Its better than worrying about how you will make your payment.

**GFNancy** · 08-18-2007, 01:31 AM

Oh my gosh. I thought I was the only one here with a super high mortgage. Ours is over 4000 a month.

We used to live a 45-60 minute drive from DH's work. He had to work a lot, and most of the time wouldn't get home until it was almost time for the kids to go to bed, and then already be gone before they got up.

We would look at houses where DH's work is every once in a while, but it was basically a sea of basic beige houses with nondescript interiors and nondescript yards.

When we found this one we fell in love with it. Gorgeous yard with plenty of room for the kids to run around. Plus a pool. Plus a half+ court basketball area. It's also right by the walking trails and in the middle of town. Easy shopping. Easy to walk to school. And DH's commute is about 4 minutes.

DH basically missed the first 4 years of being a dad. So the move has been more than worth it. It's just hasn't been easy financially. But I'm learning...

So is this the first official meeting of the Mortgaged Up to Your Eyeballs Kith?

Nancy

**chatterweb** · 08-18-2007, 01:58 AM

OK. I am here to say this. Pay extra if you can and do not despair!

Here is our scenario:

1st mortgage (primary home) 296200.00

Rental home: ballpark 179900.00

So yes we are somewhat "house poor"

I do notice we have 2K between each paycheck after paying the mortgage, but before all other bills.

After all bills are paid and we have paid the mortgage, we have around 600.00-1200.00 between paychecks.
Average is 900.00

Note, our primary is an interest only loan at 4.5%, due to reset in 2011...the rental is a 30 year fixed at 6.0.

So our monthly payments are:
Primary is 1110.63 unescrowed
rental is: 1346.16 escrowed

We do just fine, and have been adding extra to the I/O loan around 200-600per month...

That was an original loan of 399K, put 100K down now we owe 296200.00.

According to the Amoritilization schedule, we are 13K behind in being a 30 year fixed...

At least we are making some headway, and saving a bit each month to the EF too!

**ConnieD** · 08-18-2007, 12:00 PM

Wow.......... I can't imagine!

My hat goes off to you guys who are able to manage with mortgages that high. DH & I were freaked enough when we refinanced and did a bunch of consolidation about 6 years ago and our mortgage ended up being $142,000!

Keep up the frugal living!!!

**Dancing Lotus** · 08-18-2007, 12:45 PM

My house had a sticker price of 217,000 and thats fairly average for my area. We financed 150,000 and our morgage was supose to be 1,000 a month. NOt too bad right. Except 6 months after moveing in the new year rolled around and a mistake had been made in our taxes plus our insurance was raised now it over 1,400 a month.That a pretty high morgage for someone who only brings homoe 2,200 a month. Thats why I have to be super frugal

**Missourimom** · 08-18-2007, 05:27 PM

Unfortunately, we have two mortgages. Between the two, including taxes and insurance, we pay $1,211.00. Our second won't be paid for another 6 years and then it'll drop down to $916 a month.

**chatterweb** · 08-19-2007, 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by GFNancy

Oh my gosh. I thought I was the only one here with a super high mortgage. Ours is over 4000 a month.

We used to live a 45-60 minute drive from DH's work. He had to work a lot, and most of the time wouldn't get home until it was almost time for the kids to go to bed, and then already be gone before they got up.

We would look at houses where DH's work is every once in a while, but it was basically a sea of basic beige houses with nondescript interiors and nondescript yards.

When we found this one we fell in love with it. Gorgeous yard with plenty of room for the kids to run around. Plus a pool. Plus a half+ court basketball area. It's also right by the walking trails and in the middle of town. Easy shopping. Easy to walk to school. And DH's commute is about 4 minutes.

DH basically missed the first 4 years of being a dad. So the move has been more than worth it. It's just hasn't been easy financially. But I'm learning...

So is this the first official meeting of the Mortgaged Up to Your Eyeballs Kith?

Nancy

I suuppose it could be a new kith!!

**momofmy3kids** · 08-21-2007, 02:52 AM

Oh my goodness! You made me feel a little better. DH and I sat down last night and both agreed that selling our house is NOT an option.

We have 2 investment properties that he needs to sell. Once we get those sold we're going to take the profits from there + the money he invested and refinance and hopefully knock ours down again! We did have it a $2k a month, but now it's 4K and I just can't deal with the anxiety of it. At least I know between the 2 of us we can come up with 2. Even if we rented, we'd still have to pay $1300-1500 a month.

Our mtg is $584K...but the house is worth $750. We just spent 8 months remodeling it to fit our family. (MIL moving in with us in future + we homeschool & now have a schoolroom). It's 5 minutes from dh's office, the hospital, my kid's doctors, the grocery store, my mom & sister.

I'm not entirely sure why he decided to refinance & then invest in the stock market...but I think it backfired on him big time! We invested the money and the next day the stock market crashed ... about 13%.

**changed4life** · 08-26-2007, 01:22 PM

I think it' all relative to your yearly income, right? Perhaps a few of you may be spending a lot every month to pay for your house, but if you have the salary to go along with it, wouldn't it be the same as someone who's only making 45,000/yr. with a 1,200 per month mortgage? Or is it just the fact of the large number that scares you all?

For instance as an example, if you're monthly income is 10,000 and your mortgage payment is 4,000 then all's well, right?

Just curious.

**GFNancy** · 08-26-2007, 01:55 PM

Originally Posted by changed4life

I think it' all relative to your yearly income, right? Perhaps a few of you may be spending a lot every month to pay for your house, but if you have the salary to go along with it, wouldn't it be the same as someone who's only making 45,000/yr. with a 1,200 per month mortgage? Or is it just the fact of the large number that scares you all?

For instance as an example, if you're monthly income is 10,000 and your mortgage payment is 4,000 then all's well, right?

Just curious.

Exactly. It's all relative. For me it's the high number that scares me. Just writing that check every month makes me dizzy.

Nancy