My house is paid for but I guess if I want to be in with the in crowd, I'd better get a mortgage.
It is just capitol - any entreprenour moves money!
I would. Where else you gonna borrow tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars at about 5.5%? That's real cheap money. Wait a few years until the economy takes its inevitable, cyclical dive, and invest the same money in high-yield bonds at, oh 8% or 10%. Heck, maybe those money-market accounts that paid 20% in 1980 will return.
Or, if you are a smart and savvy investor, you can take that 5.5% money and invest it in smart and savvy (if slightly riskier) ways NOW and earn more than 5.5% on it.
For example, lots of people have taken that cheap money and bought more real estate. The value appreciation of real estate over the past few years (in most areas) has equated to way, WAY more than the annual rate of 5.5% on the money that financed the purchase.
There's a whole lot of people out there who are getting very rich .
More like two or three.
Sigh.