“No one holds a gun to your head when taking out a mortgage.”
No kidding. We were approved for twice the house we bought. There was no way I was getting in that deep. Sure enough, I got laid off a couple years later. We were able to make it on my wife’s meager salary until the new business got going. Had we spent the whole amount we were approved, well, I don’t like to think about that.
We’re doubly glad we didn’t buy then. Who wants an INFLATED mortgage to pay off? Inflated new house assessment? We didn’t - not in New Jersey ... tax heaven. We’ll bid our time till things level off.
Same here. We could have obtained a mortgage for $200K with an ARM. My wife and I have learned a few things over the years, however; instead, we bought a $90K house at a flat six percent and never looked back. We owe $70K today and do not fear the mortgage company.
It’s called frugality, gang, You live within your means. I had to learn that lesson the hard way. Others may have to as well. I just feel sorry for the poor little kids who are going to suffer because mommy and daddy are too greedy and stupid to buy a house that they can afford.
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through, and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also.” — Matthew 6:18-21