To all the people with $700,000+ homes (Millstone: mortgage, credit, loans)

[stevemorse]

Originally Posted by wileynj

Mt. lakes is nice but I don't get the whole "it's beautiful"? It's located on a main drag..heavy traffic! Houses are nice but you can do better for less in neighboring towns. Plus the school system isn't no. 1 anymore..even if it was, it doesn't justify paying 32K/yr. in property taxes..send them to a posh private school if that's the case. Over-rated in my opinion! In morris county...I would choose Long Valley over Mt. lakes anyday! (you can rep. me later T )

the old style house is beautiful, I agree with some of it. Rockaway Valley and By Charlottesburg Reso.is beautiful!!

[JERSEY MAN]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

Now, I'm no financial genius or anything, but I've seen this comment in the past, and it makes absolutely no sense to me.

So I take out a mortgage that, for example, requires me to pay $1,000/month in interest, so I'm paying $12,000/year in interest- money that I never see again, and in exchange for paying this $12k, I get to deduct it on my tax return. Let's say I'm in a 25% tax bracket, so I write off the $12k, and I get back $3,000 of the taxes that I've paid for the year (25% of $12k, right?). By my fuzzy math, I'm still short by $9,000, no?

Of course, if I don't have the money to pay cash for my house, I really don't have a choice in this matter, and getting back $3k in exchange for $12k is better than paying $12k and getting nothing. Unless I'm missing something, the only way this is a winning situation for me is if I have money in the bank or in investments equal to the mortgage amount, and it's returning me more in interest/dividends/growth than the mortgage interest is costing me, right???

Agreed 100 percent. Many people assume you can take that money and put it in the stock market and make 20-30 percent a year. If you put it the market last year you would be 20 percent in the hole. Good point Bob. As for myself I moved up with 4 house sales making money on each one. I worked over 30 years many, many times double shifts. Wife works for close to 30 years FULL TIME. Bought a bayfront house on Barnegat Bay during a depressed market and will probably work until I drop dead. Thats how I did it. The Smith Barney old fashioned way. I EARNED IT.

[UKOK]

Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN

Agreed 100 percent. Many people assume you can take that money and put it in the stock market and make 20-30 percent a year. If you put it the market last year you would be 20 percent in the hole. Good point Bob. As for myself I moved up with 4 house sales making money on each one. I worked over 30 years many, many times double shifts. Wife works for close to 30 years FULL TIME. Bought a bayfront house on Barnegat Bay during a depressed market and will probably work until I drop dead. Thats how I did it. The Smith Barney old fashioned way. I EARNED IT.

Nobody said anything about putting it in the stock market. CD's will do the trick.

[JERSEY MAN]

Originally Posted by UKOK

Nobody said anything about putting it in the stock market. CD's will do the trick.

Yeah but I just got a CD at Wachovia for 4 1/2 percent and the last time I checked there were no loans available for less than 5 percent. I agree with the scenario of having some home loan but in this sliding, horrible stock and housing market I don't agree.

[NorthNJ]

Originally Posted by UKOK

Well he didn't say he owned it, just lived in it...lol. Just a few days ago he was asking about buying a $500k house.

Bought a home in NJ - Worth?

We own 5 houses, we just bought that house $500k, but I live in the 1.5 mil home with my parents

[UKOK]

Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN

Yeah but I just got a CD at Wachovia for 4 1/2 percent and the last time I checked there were no loans available for less than 5 percent. I agree with the scenario of having some home loan but in this sliding, horrible stock and housing market I don't agree.

LOL OK then.

[Alex07860]

Originally Posted by NorthNJ

We own 5 houses, we just bought that house $500k, but I live in the 1.5 mil home with my parents

Rightttttttttttt. yeah, of course, we believe you, sure, that's it.

[HobokenGuy]

Originally Posted by NorthNJ

We own 5 houses, we just bought that house $500k, but I live in the 1.5 mil home with my parents

Do I hear a hole getting dug deeper?

[august west]

i own 2 homes, no mortgages, and just learned from this thread that apparently i am not financially savvy. i sure do sleep well at night though.

[doc1]

Originally Posted by august west

i own 2 homes, no mortgages, and just learned from this thread that apparently i am not financially savvy. i sure do sleep well at night though.

Me too. The greatest bulk of our assets is in stocks, bonds and cash. I suspect that too many have the equity of their home as their primary source of wealth. That's too risky for me.