If your house has a mortgage, just make sure your heirs have enough cash flow to make payments and taxes for several months after your death.
Iām not real concerned about this because there should be sufficient cash in the estate for the executer to pay the bills, and in any case it would take 6 months to a year before a bank got around around to doing anything about it, by then hopefully everything is settled.
https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/how-to-find-mortgage-rates-under-3-percent/
This article talks about current offerings from United Wholesale Mortgage, the countryās largest loan originator. They donāt deal directly with the public; you need to go through a mortgage broker.
Weāve gotten two mortgages from UWM, and their rates were clearly better than the competition, especially for borrowers with low LTVās and high FICO scores. About two or three years ago we were able to get a 3% loan from them with no points or closing costs.
Their website offers a link to another webpage that helps you find a mortgage broker near you with whom they have a relationship.
Does anyone know how home equity loans work? I got the credit line at prime minus one rate. I havenāt used it yet. Am I understanding right that it is a flexible rate that will change month to month or daily for the outstanding amount that we draw?
What you have is a home equity line of credit (HELOC). Those are always a variable rate that adjusts monthly.
Sometimes for the first six months or a year they will have a lower teaser rate. If your HELOC at prime minus 1 is not a teaser rate, thatās a pretty good rate I think.
Iām surprised they didnāt make you take a chunk out for 3 months or so, around here to get the best rate you typically have to take a $25k or so draw at the close and keep that balance for a few months.
We have had a HELOC for over 8 years that weāve never drawn on and never paid a penny in fees to open or keep. It is an adjustable rate and They send us teaser promotions and offers from time to time. We have never been tempted yet.
Several different sources recommended we get the HELOC before H retired as we might have more difficulty qualifying after he retired. It seemed like a nice extra insurance in case we needed quick cash, so we opened a HELOC because we were promised no fees at all to open or maintain.
A fews ago, I started musings here (and elsewhere) about paying off the small remaining balance on our home mortgage. Last year, after DH was retired but while Iām still workingā¦ we decided to just Do It.
There were pros/cons, but in our situation (planning for me to also retire) gotta say it feels reallllly good. We had a bit of short term pain on paperwork and getting the property taxes and house insurance paid directly (not longer via the mortgate escrow). But now we have peace of mind of $1000/month less cash flow needed.
Congratulations @colorado_mom.
we paid off our mortgage last year also, because although we knew it wasnāt necessarily the smartest financial move, it brought us one step closer to feeling we can easily retire when we want to.
I have been eligible, and husband turns eligible this summer (We will both get pensions). Itās a good feeling to have a choice about going to work every day.
Who can tell me about ājumboā loans? Looks like the cutoff for these is around $510k and change. We will likely be on the cusp that of that amount for borrowing - we could go either way, and we may decide to put significantly more down IF we decide to move/take out loan. But, I am wondering if there is there any advantage or disadvantage to staying above or below this amount and having oneās loan classified as such?
The amount varies depending on what county you are in. If your county is designated as high-cost, the amount can be much higher.
As long as you are putting 20% down and have good credit, you shouldnāt have trouble getting one. Some lenders will charge a quarter point higher rate for a jumbo, some donāt.
If you only have to put a little extra down to get under the jumbo limit, it can be worth it as it will give you more options.
Google "jumbo limit < my county
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@Hoggirl, Iām no expert, but I seem to remember rates on those loans were always a little higher than rates on lesser amounts.
If you need more money only until you sell current place, a ābridge loanā may be better. We did one of those when we purchased our current home before selling our other one.
Great! Thanks for the speedy replies on jumbo loans. Sounds like itās best to keep it under that amount. We certainly have the flexibility to do that.
@1214mom - that isnāt really our scenario. Itās more that dh thinks we can earn a higher rate of return in other investments with our cash than the rate we would have on a mortgage. 
@Hoggirl, I hope heās right. Iām worried at this point that the market may still go down and not recover for years. I hope Iām wrong.
Given our housing change and our upcoming renovation expenses plus general costs of transitioning houses, we are updating our financial plan. Trying to work backwards and figure out what our annual spending will be not including housing. 2020 will be a weird year as there wonāt be travel (of which we do a lot).
About HELOC: we consider it a versatile tool in our long term money management.
We recently took out a new HELOC as our old one expired. House is paid for, BofA had our mortgage as well as all our day to day banking accounts, so they were easy to deal with. We were required to draw down $4000 of the available $100,000 initially. We paid it back quickly. Were offered a really low teaser interest rate if we took out &40,000. No thanks.
With no fees, itās like an insurance policy that could keep us running for another year or two of serious market woes if that was cheaper than selling at a loss. Seems like a no cost option.
We really might use a bit of this line of credit in the next few years to remodel the remaining one out dated bathroom and fix some landscape drainage issues before we sell.
IDK why but Iāve been thinking about the possibility of quitting my job and focus on my charity organization, full time. I checked my pension plan, playing with different dates to retire. If I retire now at 48 with 23 years at my company, I will get about 4K/month when I am 60. If I retired at 62 (over 30 years of service) I would get 12k/month. Huge difference. Prior to covid my plan was to quit my job at 55 when my son is finished With college. I would still have a decent pension with that. Now I have the itch to quit sooner before itās too late. But itās really hard fo quit from a job I like, and a company I love. I would also walk away from a social life from work friends that I adore. I tried to talk to my husband but he was no help, said the decision has to be mine alone.
Has anyone seen updated inflation projections?
I can only think of three reasons the stock market is back near all-time-highs and the most plausible of those is higher future inflation. The other two potential reasons are: (1) foreign money is being invested in the US stock market because it is safer than alternative countries. (2) The government is propping up the stock market. But, as I mentioned, Iām most inclined to believe the rational reason is higher future inflation than previously expected.
This concerns me as Iām in the early years of retirement.
@diegodavis, does inflation depress the stock market? Found this (https://theconversation.com/why-does-inflation-make-stock-prices-fall-91874). But, I really am not clear on the mechanism. However, I donāt know of anything suggesting that inflation causes higher stock markets. The government has been pouring liquidity into the world, which in the past has pushed up asset prices.
If equity buyers thought higher inflation was coming, then that same inflation would be built into bond interest rates, but they are really low.
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possible, but generally the flight to quality is to buy safe Treasuries.
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in a way yes, but not directly in the stock market. The Govt is helping businesses stay afloat hoping that they will survive, make future profits and pay furture taxes. Those assume future profits and related cash flow streams is what is driving the market, IMO. Plus, some exuberance of the opening up. Whether that exuberance can be classified as āirrationalā is cloudy in my crystal ball.
Given all the parallels being drawn with 1968 at the moment it might be worth considering what happened to stock markets over the subsequent 15 yearsā¦