Quote:
Originally Posted by kunkstyle
This one right here. When I purchased my house I bought a decent sized starter home but didn't over-extend myself. Being a first home, I wasn't sure how impacted I was going to be with the mortgage, so I opted for the 35 year amortization. After seeing what that was like for the first 6 months/year I increased the payments and cut the original 35 years down to 17.
Now if things hit the fan with the economy, my industry/career, interest rates, or I get remarried and end up having 8 kids, I can still fall back on that 35 year amortization after hammering down principle in the 'good years', without stressing about making the mortgage payments, and would stretch my rainy day fund out a little bit longer.
Although I'm going to have to assume a lot of people opting for the 35 year mortgage was just to afford a bigger house.
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This is exactly how I look at it as well. I took longest term available to me then immediately jacked up my payments by the maximum amount allowed. This gives me flexibility if interest rates rise I don't need to increase my payments as I am all ready use to paying that amount. And if something happens and I need to pay less I can reduce my payments accordingly