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November 1, 2015 at 5:58 PM in reply to: Can refinancing to a lower rate increase the amount of interest you pay? #790906
joec
ParticipantI just looked up a lot of old places I was looking to buy back in the early 2000s and things have close to tripled. Much faster appreciation than in SD.
I agree that there is no place to build and unless SF falls into the ocean or a nuke goes off, with cash doing what it’s doing, holding bay area real estate seems not the riskiest assuming you can afford it (no crazy loans) and bought at a good time.
Course, a crash can trigger a pull back now that we are definitely at a peak, but assuming the job market doesn’t go to zero (then everyone all over the US will probably be affected in some way), you’re probably ok with holding and waiting there…at least preferably over any other place in the US…
October 30, 2015 at 6:17 PM in reply to: Can refinancing to a lower rate increase the amount of interest you pay? #790857ParticipantOne thing to also be aware is near the end of the loan term, you start paying less/little interest (relative to early in the loan). Paying it off early at that point doesn’t help you lower your interest paid since the interest was front loaded and you already paid it.
You’re only paying off more principle with additional payments.
ParticipantI’m still waiting for the Ben helicopter to drop some money my way…if they want stimulus, maybe allow people who weren’t able to refinance, but have great credit and never lates to just get a lower rate, no questions asked. They already own our loan anyways…
Not like we’re asking for a principle reduction…
That, or let’s just start going negative rates and start penalizing the savers (and banks!) even more to even hold cash…
Welcome to Japan in the US for the next 20 years…No rate hike today, now it’s coming in Dec?
ParticipantSince you asked…for everyone’s opinion, here’s mine…I agree with what flu and the others say.
I think what you are going through is just a mid life crisis, but with no kids or wife. Like others have said, it’s probably pretty important as to what the g/f with eventually end up or become as a first point to consider.
As someone who went through all this, but probably 10+ years ago (divorce, no kids, left job), I think as guys, we just hit a point and ask, “What now? or Is that all?”
You probably been working for 20+ years and just want to splurge a bit more on yourself and the “car” is the latest thing.
Anyhow, I think 50k in a 401k is woefully behind in terms of retirement. I probably “had” closer to 200-300 in my 30s, in addition to a few hundred k more outside for a house purchase.
Tech jobs over 40+, you will also face age discrimination as well unless you are in a very specialized field so knowing what I know now, I think the 20-35 period is where you want to maximize your income/work since you can afford to (time/no wife/kids).
If I was in your shoes, I’d put a ton more in retirement, for one thing…Agree that if you want a car that’s fun, I’d guess a brand new Miata would be funner to drive, is used a lot on the track/autocross and probably has more “value” and “fun” than the Lexus.
When I was also searching for CPO previously, the prices also didn’t seem that good if you can negotiate well for new…I guess that depends on the car, but with insanely low interest rates, sometimes new wasn’t more than CPO since your selection options are limited for CPO and I never bothered to see how hard the dealers are willing to come down. Just seemed brand new wasn’t that much more at all compared to the CPO prices I saw online.
You could also choose to “lease” a fun car also to not be tied down to any particular one if you didn’t really like that model, but with those bikes, I assume you actually like to go fast and go on a track so the Lexus sounds like a porker…
One thing which can change all this is if you get married/have kids, etc…then, your whole plan maybe working for a lot longer/saving a ton more, ec…
That said, I think if you didn’t splurge and do wasteful things now (within limits), after kids/wife, you’ll probably never do those things since it’s pretty irresponsible and selfish…and expensive…
October 8, 2015 at 6:31 PM in reply to: How accurate are the fico scores that are free from your credit card company. #790084ParticipantThe fine print should show which reporting agency the number is from…I see this FICO Score now on all our credit cards. It’s nice to get it for free.
ParticipantI used to lift weights about 4 times a week, but would work on different body sections…
Like 1 day would be upper body, one would be lower body, etc…Didn’t care to work out more than that honestly (and I was even single and younger then too). Also try to do quick crunches, etc…vs situps IMO since there is a lot of “resting” when you’re up with situps.
Like others have suggested, to burn the stomach fat, you need to burn everything else off. That would be lots of cardio. I used to run 2 miles and never could gain weigh…After I stopped and maxed the protein, weight went up with very limited cardio (I wanted to gain weight and bulk up more) since most people considered me “skinny”.
I started weight about 135 (very light) and bulked up to about 160 or so near the end of it. Still around that range more or less. I think at the highest, max bench was around 200 or so. Doubt I could do much more than the bar now.
Muscles would get tired after / next day so probably good to rest them.
Wish I could go swimming actually now.
September 30, 2015 at 7:09 PM in reply to: Recommedation on three Divorce attorneys I researched #789701ParticipantPlease consult the attorneys since I am not a lawyer, but with no kids, do you HAVE to waste more money on attorneys or you anticipate a big, drawn out fight?
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/divorce-do-you-need-lawyer-29502.html
http://www.nolo.com/customer-support/getting-divorced-in-california.html
You can get divorced without attorneys which will save you both tons of cash…unless one of you is out to ruin each other and make a bad situation worst…
ParticipantThe problem I see with that thought for high end areas is that the rental numbers never made sense so the majority of these homes in coastal or many parts of CA are for people living there. That being the case, are there really that many rentals in those areas to begin with? Limited supply like now is hard to see price drop since people with low mortgages aren’t in any rush to move assuming they can still pay their mortgages (we’re in 1.5-2 months supply now vs. 6 in a normal market?). I also just saw on the news that home prices are up yet again…
Unless your kids are grown, you lose your job and can’t find another, another job comes and you had to move, there is no “rush” to sell since unlike stocks, everyone HAS to live somewhere.
The early 2000s – 2007 had way too home flippers compared to now.
ParticipantI assume VW would do a recall for all diesels and fix/make compliant, but if putting it in the correct compliant mode makes the car run worst (read=performance), do you think owners would be given the option to “put” the car back to VW since you were cheated in the type of performance you should have gotten?
ParticipantIt probably is just us…I think it’s probably also because as you were a kid, you probably killed it in math so you weren’t one of the “slower”, “did not meet expectation” kids.
The whole drills and practice is probably us being Asian overall (or Kumon, etc). I know specifically, when Design 39 (PUSD) was starting, they actually stress less practice and drills since they feel this just upsets kids, etc and reminds the non-super math kids they aren’t good and they get discouraged and shut down…Will have to see how this plays out in a few years.
From some of these videos and other movies, less homework resulting in higher AP scores, etc…who knows what’s correct.
At the end of the day, all this talk of everyone needing to code really makes me wonder if even if people knew how to code, would it really help that much if EVERYONE (that’s important in the hiring process) is now the same and can code basically. Not like the non-tech/computer loving people would ever do it well compared to someone who actually wants to sit infront of a screen and tap at it all day anyways.
Overall, I simply think we have too much labor, not enough jobs and there is no simple solution until a lot of the labor disappears.
I won’t trust myself to homeschool neither, but from seeing whatever I come across, the homeschool kids tend to get a lot of friendly interaction too so it’s not like locking your kids up to be total anti-social hermits nowadays.
ParticipantI just watched this on Netflix:
http://www.racetonowhere.com/Anyone else see it and have comments?
One thing about other countries and the US in terms of teachers is in places like South Korea, Singapore, I believe their pay can get closer to 150k/year and they actively recruit top seniors from high school to teach. They also only take the top 30% or so of the class to possibly teach and they also pay all their educational costs (Singapore). Have you noticed that no matter what school district you are in, you don’t really see ANYONE from say a top college or anything like that?
That, and teaching being a very very well respected profession in these countries makes the teachers probably much more effective since they probably have more power and wealth. They can also get canned and are evaluated a lot more.
Not that we can emulate that in the US at all with how wide the societal, cultural, economic differences with all the immigrants and natives here…but I don’t think this school thing is ever going to turn much better. There are simply way too many hands and pockets involved and no one has enough power to change things enough to matter. Also, as was mentioned, and I mentioned this before as well, some kids should probably just leave school since even “if” they graduate, they still won’t amount to much and any work they do won’t even need that degree. As I voiced before, you maybe better off just starting them on welfare as long as they stay out of trouble.
There is simply too much supply of labor nowadays.
I honestly think the “good” homeschooled kids are probably the best off now (assuming the parents or people doing it) know what they are doing.
ParticipantThere are very few home rentals currently in 4S I think (about 4k/month rents):
https://sandiego.craigslist.org/search/apa?bedrooms=4&bathrooms=2&minSqft=2800&housing_type=6&query=4s+ranchThat said, if you bought 5 years ago, that was pretty close to the low and assuming lending standards then, you will probably cash flow positively since you had to come in with down payment if you had to rent it. I know I would. I also know of a few renters around here and they have lived there for year+ and paying close to 4k, that’s more than my mortgage personally so I don’t know about the whole tenant issue. Pretty much any renter is a family so that’s better already and less people to deal with as in multiple condos/townhomes.
These months are always slower and no one knows what will happen so I think whether to force/sell or rent simply depends on your situation…
All that is tons more important than anyone else’s “Guess” as to what will/can happen.
I don’t think you said why you are moving/selling so depending on those reasons is more important that asking if anyone can predict the future IMO.
I don’t think many people expect housing to be like this now even (so high), but if you look at rents, it’s far worst for a lot of people…who have had to face yearly increases.
Are you moving for work?
September 9, 2015 at 4:03 PM in reply to: Vanity Fair – Is Silicon Valley in Another Tech Bubble? #789221Participant[quote=mixxalot]It is until the funny Chinese money runs out. When I lived in the bay area, open houses were 99% dominated by Chinese and Indians. I moved due to much higher living costs than San Diego and lower quality of life. Bay area where I rented in Mountain View was not bad but my neighbors were constantly always working six days a week or busy with kids.
In San Diego I pay 2K less than bay area and people are more laid back. Traffic is just as bad now though here as it is in the bay area but fortunately I don’t have to drive that much in it.[/quote]
I’m not sure how it is now in SD, but I think if someone looks at all the recent buyers in CV of new developments, I’d guess that close to 80%+ will have an Asian or Indian last name too…
Last open houses I went to were probably close to 90% asian (incl. indians)…flu can probably confirm in his CV hood.
Not 99% (probably exaggerated…but not that different from the bay area I think).
Participantyeah, I really think rent has gone up a lot in the last 5-7 years. 4S is around 4k/month and as mentioned, the bay area is much worst…I used to pay around 1k/month way way back there on the Peninsula for 1bdrm. It seems as much as people make, if you live in a “newer/fancier” place, you can’t save as much now. And better hope your company goes IPO or you end up with nothing in your mid/late 30s when you will start hitting age discrimination.
This is why at the end of the day, I really think if you have family/kids/generally more stability, buying a home to live in to lock in your housing cost (as well as take advantage of all the tax deductions), is the best way to diversify your assets.
Not for everyone (esp maybe not for singles as this forum shows they view the world in a different way), but for other folks in that lifestyle (wife/kids/etc), it’s one massive thing less on your mind. For anyone who bought here 5-7 years ago in the more desirable areas, I’m pretty sure most can rent it out for more than their mortgage.
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