Spinoff...is paying the mortgage easier than you thought?

Our mortgage is going to be more than twice what we pay now in rent and I am freaking out. Especially since of all the other costs that come with owning a home (that you don't have when you rent).

But everyone who owns says, 'it's so much easier than we thought it was going to be!' Do you homeowner's find that to be true?

Even though our mortgage is 3 x's more than our rent was, I find it easier to pay because my DH and I combine out salaries to pay our monthly bills. When we were in the apt, I was the one to pay the rent and the bills, and we banked his salary to save up for the house downpayment.

Dont get me wrong...its still a huge shock every month to see the money leave the acct but the reward of owning my own home opposed to paying someone else is GREATER than the shock!!

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Posted by Lisa Rose

Even though our mortgage is 3 x's more than our rent was, I find it easier to pay because my DH and I combine out salaries to pay our monthly bills. When we were in the apt, I was the one to pay the rent and the bills, and we banked his salary to save up for the house downpayment.

Dont get me wrong...its still a huge shock every month to see the money leave the acct but the reward of owning my own home opposed to paying someone else is GREATER than the shock!!

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I couldn't have said this better! We estimated the mortgage and the bills of owning our home before we moved out of our apartment and saved that $ for 3 months to see if we could do it. It worked out pretty good and it wasn't a shock when we got the mortgage bill. It is alot of $ but I LOVE owning a house! The only $ shocker was our oil bill...$175 a month on the budget plan! I was prepared for all the other bills.

Our mortgage is several hundred dollars cheaper than the rent at our last two apartments.

I was shocked - I had expected it to be a lot worse. So yes, paying the mortgage is much easier than I expected!

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Posted by TwoBugs

Our mortgage is several hundred dollars cheaper than the rent at our last two apartments.

I was shocked - I had expected it to be a lot worse. So yes, paying the mortgage is much easier than I expected!

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Lucky!

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Posted by Valentinegirl

I couldn't have said this better! We estimated the mortgage and the bills of owning our home before we moved out of our apartment and saved that $ for 3 months to see if we could do it. It worked out pretty good and it wasn't a shock when we got the mortgage bill. It is alot of $ but I LOVE owning a house! The only $ shocker was our oil bill...$175 a month on the budget plan! I was prepared for all the other bills.

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We did the same thing! We put away the extra money the past few months to see if we could do it. But I'm just afraid of those 'unexpected' costs (like your oil...although, we will have gas).

When I write out the check for our mortgage payment every month - I literally feel like I am going to vomit - ok maybe that is a little dramatic - but its a lot of money - a hard check to write.

We are able to do it becuase we have some apartments that we rent out - so we make some extra money there....but if any of our tenants leave - I think I will cry!!

On the flipside - we LOVE owning a house - and so I guess the check is worth it every month!!!

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Posted by kpny622

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Posted by Valentinegirl

I couldn't have said this better! We estimated the mortgage and the bills of owning our home before we moved out of our apartment and saved that $ for 3 months to see if we could do it. It worked out pretty good and it wasn't a shock when we got the mortgage bill. It is alot of $ but I LOVE owning a house! The only $ shocker was our oil bill...$175 a month on the budget plan! I was prepared for all the other bills.

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We did the same thing! We put away the extra money the past few months to see if we could do it. But I'm just afraid of those 'unexpected' costs (like your oil...although, we will have gas).

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Ok, good! Let me try to list our 'unexpected' costs...

-oil bill higher than expected
-lawn service $100/month
-chimney cleaning $50/yr
-sprinkler system blown out(if you have one)$80/yr
-adjustable mortgage interest rate went up from 4.25% to 5.25% on our 2nd loan-only $15/month extra.

Hope this helps!

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Posted by Valentinegirl

Ok, good! Let me try to list our 'unexpected' costs...

-oil bill higher than expected
-lawn service $100/month
-chimney cleaning $50/yr
-sprinkler system blown out(if you have one)$80/yr
-adjustable mortgage interest rate went up from 4.25% to 5.25% on our 2nd loan-only $15/month extra.

Hope this helps!

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Well actually that helps tremendously because we are getting HARD pressed to take out 2 loans (one adjustable) instead of 1 fixed loan. DH wants to and I refuse b/c I am paranoid about the rates going up. The broker says, 'it won't go up and if it does, just refinance to a fixed.' Um...YEAH well refinancing costs MONEY and also, if we are refinancing due to the rates going up, won't the new fixed mortgage rate be HIGHER than it is now?? Ugh.

$100/month for lawn services...wow, didn't think of that. I guess we'll be mowing our own lawn.

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Posted by Valentinegirl
-adjustable mortgage interest rate went up from 4.25% to 5.25% on our 2nd loan-only $15/month extra.

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over what period of time was this?

currently DH and I are trying to figure out the best way to finance for our situation...currently we are leaning towards some type of 80/10/10. I never considered 80 fixed and then 10 adjustable, is this what you are talking about?

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Posted by september2004

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Posted by Valentinegirl
-adjustable mortgage interest rate went up from 4.25% to 5.25% on our 2nd loan-only $15/month extra.

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over what period of time was this?

currently DH and I are trying to figure out the best way to finance for our situation...currently we are leaning towards some type of 80/10/10. I never considered 80 fixed and then 10 adjustable, is this what you are talking about?

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Yes. We have an 80/15/5 loan. Only 15% of the loan is an adjustable rate. It went up this much in 4 months. It doesn't affect us that much cause that loan is only $48,000 so it went up a few bucks a month. It was worth it to do this loan even if the rate goes up cause you save $100-200 PMI.

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Posted by Valentinegirl
Yes. We have an 80/15/5 loan. Only 15% of the loan is an adjustable rate. It went up this much in 4 months. It doesn't affect us that much cause that loan is only $48,000 so it went up a few bucks a month. It was worth it to do this loan even if the rate goes up cause you save $100-200 PMI.

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We did the same thing (80Fixed/15adj). Our broker said to call her and re-fi in a year or so on the adj. portion when we've got more equity in the home built up, etc.. Ours is a similar amount adj. It is easier to pay this way.

You can also do interest only-and pay as much as you can over the interest each month up to what the Prem+Int payment amount would be. Then when you get your tax return make up the difference. Or something like that, just an idea..

I think the main thing is for you &DH to have a plan and stick to it. Then it becomes like clockwork. If you have to scrimp some, eventually you don't miss those things so much over time, etc.

Also if you do (or will) go LIRR, check into the cost of parking (if any) at the commuter lot. And give yourself a 'slush' fund for those first things you may want to buy for your home (curtains, new dish drain, paint, cleaners, whatever).

We just wrote our first check this month. One down, 359 to go! happy happy joy joy

The mortgage isnt as hard to pay as I would have anticipated. Its everything else that really adds up.
However we are lucky to be fairly handy and have handy relatives so we save there. And we are lucky that besides painting we havent had to put any money into our home for renovations (we will however be redoing our den in a few months but thats all)

Some little things:

Our dryer died shortly after we moved in.... $400 later I love my dryer!
Electric is higher than anticpated
Decorating bills--I love buying stuff for the house.
Furniture expenses!
home depot trips....we may go for 1 item but we walk out with $100 worth of stuff

Overall we were pretty much right on when we budgeted and it didnt hurt that I changed jobs getting a nice raise less than a month before we closed!!!

Much easier! That is only because I used to live alone and pay all of the bills...it's nice to share a cable bill, phone bill etc...

I actually came out with more $$$!!

When we brought our first house the first year seemed very painful because of all the extra expenses I underestimated such as lawn equipment and the cost to hire a painter. In retrospect we could have done a llittle better money wise if we planned appropriately. Our first house was totally renovated from the basement up in 99. The only thing we did was installed wall to wall hardwood floors and painted. Both of which we hired professional and paid $$$$$. In our new house we are going to do the painting ourselves and we're going to recarpet the rooms that have carpet. As much as we would like hardwood floors throughout it would cost too much money and now we have BABY expenses which are our priority.

My advise to you is do as much as you can yourselves and save that money for the fun stuff like decorating and furniture. Good luck and remember it beats paying rent and if you have a fixed rate mortgage it's going to be the same for the 15-30 years (depending on your mortgage) unlike rent which usually goes up every year.

yeah, its easy to pay the mortgage. i just cant pay for anything else!

JK. it is easier. it all works out. you figure your expenses and cut where you have to.