Random stuff

[giza]

Some random stuff I've been up to lately:

- I lost 5 pounds since last month. I figure this was partly due to getting ill a few weeks ago, and partly due to being back in the gym.

- joshvon stopped by my place last week for a visit. It was the first time I've seen him since he shipped out a few years ago. We hung out, watched movies, and drank. Lots. :-P

- I've given up drinking coffee on a daily basis. Since I got sick, I decided i'd lay off the coffee and switch to tea instead. I'm now drinking 3 cups of tea per day instead of the 4 cups of coffee I used to drink. Hopefully consuming less caffiene will be better in the long run.

- I've been examining my options for buying a home. I think in a few years I'm going to sell my car (once it's paid off) and move into an apartment in Center City. From there, I'll keep saving up money until I can afford a down payment for a condo in the city.

- omnibahumut got me hooked on Full Metal Alchemist. I've been acquiring more (subbed) episodes to watch. I'm up to 12, and I'm pretty impressed with the series so far.

- I had a fun little occurrence last night that kept me up late. It turns out that there is a race condition in Drupal's poormanscron module that, when the system is under a heavy load, can cause crontabs to "pile up" and make Apache go into a death spiral. That was not fun. To put it another way, I was responsible for the red Xes in their status report:



I think I found a fix for that though, so I'll be posting a patch real soon.


That's all the news for now.

Comments

[tgeller.livejournal.com]

An exercise I recommend: Start doing mortgage calculations regularly, to get used to how the money works. Example:

Purchase price = $150,000
Assuming 20% down, then:
DP (Down Payment) = $30,000
PV (Principal Value, i.e. loan amount) = $120,000
FV (Final Value) = $0
I (Interest) = 6.5%
N (Number of periods, i.e. months) = 360

Calculate P (monthly Payment) = about $760/month

...then figure the other big costs: Tax, Insurance, and HOA (homeowner's association -- only if it's a condo). That would typically bring this particular purchase up to around $1,000/month.

Play with the numbers. Once you get good at it, you'll be able to make pretty good guesses at the financing without turning to the calculator. An advanced subject: Calculate the financing for properties where you have loans out for more than 80% of the purchase price. (You'll either need a second loan at a higher interest rate, or pay Private Mortgage Insurance.)

One thing that shocks people is how big a difference is caused by a half-point interest increase... which could be an argument for buying early even if it's hard, if you believe interest rates will increase.

Another shocker comes from looking at amortization tables. That loan above? In the first month, $650 of your $760 goes toward interest. That portion shrinks over time as principal is slowly paid off. Guess when the lines cross, and you're paying more on your principal than interest? In a 30-year mortgage, that doesn't happen until the *23rd year*. Math!

You probably have a calculator with a mortgage function... if you carry a Palm device, EasyCalc is your friend.

[giza.livejournal.com]

That was educational, thanks!

One thing I have going for me is a spotless credit rating. Hopefully that will benefit me when I go to get a mortgage some day.

[tgeller.livejournal.com]

My pleasure! Call or write any time. I have lots of tricks like that. Oh, and get to know the main costs of home ownership, commonly referred to as "PITI": Principal, Interest, Tax, and Insurance. If it's a condo, replace Insurance with HOA (Homeowner's Association).

Since you're most interested in a condo, get hold of a typical "Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions" from your area. (I have some San Francisco ones, but don't know how different they'd be from what's found there.) A good real estate agent would be able to lay hands on such a thing, and would give it to you happily. If they can't or won't, maybe they're not very customer-focused.

One thing to know: The Buyer is usually represented by their own agent; that agent is paid from a portion of the sale price, out of the seller's proceeds. So you don't have to pay to have your own agent -- and you should. There's usually no reason to let the seller's agent act as yours as well, and the disadvantage is in possibly divided loyalties. (However, there are exceptions, especially for unusual deals.)

Oh, and you might want to read through some articles of mine at tomgeller.com, specifically under the rubrics "Information about buying your next home" and "Information about financing your next home".