CNBC’s Questionable Advice: “Buy Now, Refinance Later”…

Citizen Watch Report ^

[davikkm]

In a concerning trend, the financial advice landscape on CNBC has taken a speculative turn that many find alarming. The mantra of “Buy now, refinance later” is being propagated, raising eyebrows as experts caution against such advice, especially if interest rates don’t fall low enough for a successful refinancing.

The desperation to pump and speculate on all assets, as observed on CNBC, has sparked a conversation about the ethical responsibility of financial platforms. “Buy now, refinance later” is being labeled as one of the worst pieces of financial advice, especially given the potential pitfalls if interest rates do not align favorably for refinancing.

[cgbg]

You will enjoy my sister in law story.

The sister in law is both stubborn and stupid—a cat lady with no man in her life.

Years ago she decided it was time to buy a house.

She hired her hair-dresser as her buyer’s agent.

She then bought a house.

Then she found out about the “issues” she and her realtor failed to discover before the purchase.

(1) The house was right off the entrance/exit ramps of an Interstate in the busiest intersection of the entire metro area. During both morning and evening rush hour thousands of cars honk at each other, curse at each other—and bonus—make it impossible to get either in or out of her driveway without causing massive road rage by commuters.

(2) Her neighbors spoke only Spanish, no English. The property line was in dispute and shared a fence that was falling apart.

(3) Her basement flooded with even minor rainfall. She found that out after she stored thousands of dollars of stuff down there and it was ruined.

(4) Her neighbor on the other side was a total kook. They were constantly fighting over anything and everything.

(5) My favorite—her garage was so small that her Toyota truck could not fit in it. She never measured before buying the house.

Lol.

[OKSooner]

Yeah. Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

[norwaypinesavage]

I have in-laws who did that during the Jimmy Carter inflation. They bought a $160K home at 14% interest. A couple of years later, they refinanced for around 6%. The house sold recently for nearly a $million.

[Organic Panic]

It’s always a “great time” to buy a house and a “great time” to buy gold.

I have never heard and ad stating it is a “great time” to sell gold or real estate.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Most people buy houses based on what payments they can afford on a 30-year mortgage. If you could afford a $350K house when Trump left office in 2020 (and mortgage rates were around 3%) then you can only afford a $300K house today (with mortgage rates around 7%).

[Dilbert San Diego]

Everyone’s personal situation is different. It sounds like now is not a good time to buy based on how interest rates have risen , or how home prices have escalated so much in the past few years.

But you have to compare that to your alternative. If your alternative is to continue renting, and considering how rents have risen, you have to compare that against your cost of buying a house.

If your alternative is to continue living in a house you already own then that’s a completely different situation.

[No Party Affiliation]

Reduction of principal was not as important as reducing the monthly payment. In the meantime the house’s value has increased about 6% per year thus building equity with a lower monthly payment.