(no subject)

[geekchick]

The credit card with the second-highest APR will be paid off completely next Friday, and the others are no longer anywhere close to their limits. (We'll leave aside that some of that is because one of them inexplicably raised my limit by something like 50%. Yeesh.) Go me.

I really, really hope to be able to mostly pay these off by the end of this year and keep them down to levels where they can be paid off in full each month, or in two months at most. I completely wrecked my credit right after college; now that I've mostly recovered from that, I don't want to find myself back in a situation where I'm struggling (and usually failing) just to make minimum payments like I was for those several years. For now, I'm putting any extra money towards paying off credit cards rather than into savings because the interest I'm paying on those cards is so very much higher than the interest I'm getting on my savings account. (I'm putting money in savings out of every paycheck anyway, but any extra I have goes to Chase right now instead of ING.) My student loans will be paid off in three months at the most. I wonder what it will feel like to be debt-free? I don't think I have been since 1991 or so.

If I pay off my cards and start saving right now for a house, I might have almost enough for a downpayment by the time I'm 45. :-P (Seriously, if you can find a single-family house around here that doesn't have some sort of major problem and is a decent size for $400K, count yourself very lucky. Or be very suspicious. 27% increase in median home sale price in the last year for this county, and it wasn't even the biggest jump in the area. Oof.)

Comments

[mouseman.livejournal.com]

I might have almost enough for a downpayment by the time I'm 45.

Some say there will be a housing market collapse in the next few years, so you might be better off waiting anyways.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Agreed. There's no way my dinky 1100 sqft rundown 3/2 house in CA is worth its current $750K appraisal... the bottom has to drop out soonish.

[geekchick]

Eh. They keep talking about it here, but I haven't heard anyone who seriously thinks that the bubble's going to burst around here anytime soon.

[geekchick]

Yeah, that's pretty much been the plan for the last few years. Interest rates were low, but the amount we'd need to borrow to find anything acceptable (by which I mean mostly "not a condo") is just too high.

[stitchinthyme.livejournal.com]

For now, I'm putting any extra money towards paying off credit cards rather than into savings because the interest I'm paying on those cards is so very much higher than the interest I'm getting on my savings account.

This is what all the financial advisor types say, too; better to pay off the cards than put money into savings. Having been down this road (I racked up a $20K debt all on my own after college -- being able to plunk down the plastic and worry about paying later was way too seductive after a childhood of poverty), I can sympathize. I paid mine off by picking one at a time in order, highest APR first, and throwing as much money as I could afford at it every month and paying the minimum on the rest; as each account was paid off I closed it.

Seriously, if you can find a single-family house around here that doesn't have some sort of major problem and is a decent size for $400K, count yourself very lucky. Or be very suspicious.

We paid less than that a year ago, but I'm not sure if most people would consider our house "decent size" -- not counting the partially finished basement it's only like 1100 feet, though that's plenty big enough for us. But that was a year ago; I haven't looked at housing prices since then. (Although I do have a coworker who is buying a place up in Leesburg for over $650K...ouch!)

As to the housing bubble bursting, Ray is incredibly paranoid about this as well, to the point where he wants us to sell the house and rent for a while until the crash, then buy cheap. But I wanted a house for more than just the investment -- I wanted a home -- and I do not want to sell it based on a prediction that may or may not actually come true.

[geekchick]

But that was a year ago; I haven't looked at housing prices since then.

I just did a search on realtor.com for houses with at least 2 bedrooms/2 baths in Fairfax between $250k and $500k, and got 13 hits out of 800+ total. Low price was $425. Heck, the townhouse three doors down was listed for $500,000 a few weeks ago. (And I know how shoddy the construction in these units is. ;) ) If I want to buy anytime soon and don't want a condo, I'm not going to be able to afford Fairfax I think. Of course Prince William and Loudoun counties are skyrocketing too, I think they both had a larger increase in median sale price last year.

As to the housing bubble bursting, Ray is incredibly paranoid about this as well, to the point where he wants us to sell the house and rent for a while until the crash, then buy cheap. But I wanted a house for more than just the investment -- I wanted a home -- and I do not want to sell it based on a prediction that may or may not actually come true.

*nod* Yeah, I don't want to buy a house just because I want the investment either. We've still got a year on the lease on this place anyway, so plenty of time to think about it either way; I suspect we'll wait until things slow down a little bit to start giving it any serious thought though, mostly because anything really affordable is likely to be unacceptably far out for nminusone. (I work in Warrenton, so moving further west isn't a big hardship for me.)