What a dang mess we’re in. Predatory lending, a credit card in every wallet, Golden Parachute’s reaching a $90 million atmosphere, lack of government oversight, President leading us awry, and finally a legislature that isn’t working.
A better question would be, what have we done to ourselves?
The wife and I bought a house a couple of years ago, and not being rich enough to pay for it in cash, we financed it. We did our homework, interviewed various lenders’ and just about all of them were eager to work with us. We haggled over interest rates and finally came to an agreement upon whom we would work with.
In the meantime, we sold our house for quite an inflated price. A year before the sale I would have been happy with some $30k less than what I asked at the time of sell. When I was approached about selling and moving on, I asked a particularly high price; yes, that $30k was added in, which I truly expected a harsh but acceptable offer.
A few days later, a bank called and confirmed that I was willing to sell for my original price. I said yeah, and the process had begun.
At the closing on the house we sold, we found out that the young man making the purchase was able to not only finance the closing cost, but also the down payment; 100% financing. According to what I had learned years ago, closing cost, earnest money, and the down payment were to be paid separate from financing.
Back on to the purchase of our current house, the finance agent was surprised that we didn’t want to finance the full amount of the home cost, let alone over-finance beyond the appraised value of the home. We could have financed the house, closing cost, down payment plus the full value of our credit limit.
We found it odd that the financier found it odd that we didn’t want to finance to the full limit and was amazed that we intended to put up a down payment. While the cash would have been nice for the remodel that we are currently working on, let alone maybe a new car, we decided to only finance what we needed to secure the house.
We ended up putting down 30% of the purchase price, which I haggled down to the best deal we could get. We bought down points and would up with a very good interest rate.
For the past five years I have been concerned at the frantic pace of easy credit. There was a time when credit was earned after years of diligence. It has come to a free for all and now we are seeing the result of a lack of wisdom and learning.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not blowing any trumpet, but rather am responding to a apparent lack of financial principal. Parent’s who had gone through the great depression and understood the prudence of financial understanding for survival taught me how to manage my money. I learned how important one’s credit was. In short, one’s credibility established their lot in life.
Now we see the result of a lack of involvement in the lives of our children who are now in muddling their way through a truly wacky financial world. Forget about working and saving for something, instead just go and get it now…worry about repaying later. Instant and undeserved gratification has led us into the mess we are now finding ourselves in.
Is it not time we learn to work and save for what we need? Then consider what we want after our needs are met. And finally, we should learn not obligate ourselves to an impossible situation without the means of coming out of debt.
A better question would be, what have we done to ourselves?
The wife and I bought a house a couple of years ago, and not being rich enough to pay for it in cash, we financed it. We did our homework, interviewed various lenders’ and just about all of them were eager to work with us. We haggled over interest rates and finally came to an agreement upon whom we would work with.
In the meantime, we sold our house for quite an inflated price. A year before the sale I would have been happy with some $30k less than what I asked at the time of sell. When I was approached about selling and moving on, I asked a particularly high price; yes, that $30k was added in, which I truly expected a harsh but acceptable offer.
A few days later, a bank called and confirmed that I was willing to sell for my original price. I said yeah, and the process had begun.
At the closing on the house we sold, we found out that the young man making the purchase was able to not only finance the closing cost, but also the down payment; 100% financing. According to what I had learned years ago, closing cost, earnest money, and the down payment were to be paid separate from financing.
Back on to the purchase of our current house, the finance agent was surprised that we didn’t want to finance the full amount of the home cost, let alone over-finance beyond the appraised value of the home. We could have financed the house, closing cost, down payment plus the full value of our credit limit.
We found it odd that the financier found it odd that we didn’t want to finance to the full limit and was amazed that we intended to put up a down payment. While the cash would have been nice for the remodel that we are currently working on, let alone maybe a new car, we decided to only finance what we needed to secure the house.
We ended up putting down 30% of the purchase price, which I haggled down to the best deal we could get. We bought down points and would up with a very good interest rate.
For the past five years I have been concerned at the frantic pace of easy credit. There was a time when credit was earned after years of diligence. It has come to a free for all and now we are seeing the result of a lack of wisdom and learning.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not blowing any trumpet, but rather am responding to a apparent lack of financial principal. Parent’s who had gone through the great depression and understood the prudence of financial understanding for survival taught me how to manage my money. I learned how important one’s credit was. In short, one’s credibility established their lot in life.
Now we see the result of a lack of involvement in the lives of our children who are now in muddling their way through a truly wacky financial world. Forget about working and saving for something, instead just go and get it now…worry about repaying later. Instant and undeserved gratification has led us into the mess we are now finding ourselves in.
Is it not time we learn to work and save for what we need? Then consider what we want after our needs are met. And finally, we should learn not obligate ourselves to an impossible situation without the means of coming out of debt.
I remember debt was a “four letter word” when I was growing up. Maybe it's time we revist the past and learn a few lesson's, then practice sound fiancial activity.
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