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By Scott Burns Q. We are 75 and 69. Our financial situation is good. We live in a controlled "senior citizen environment.” We have a $100,000 mortgage on a $200,000 home. Our payment is less than $600 a month. We know people are jumping on the reverse mortgage concept. I am sure some do this...
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By Scott Burns Q. What is the benefit of a 5-year mortgage? What are the best options, in your opinion? ---S.K., by email A. The initial interest rate on a 5/25 mortgage--- that’s 5 years of fixed rate, 25 years of variable rate--- is somewhat lower than the rate on a traditional mortgage where...
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By Scott Burns LAS VEGAS . If you’d like to learn about adapting to change, spend an afternoon with Jennifer Martin, Realtor. You might also buy a condo or house while you’re at it. Priced to insane levels at the top of the bubble, lots of Las Vegas real estate is now available, cheap. If Las Vegas is...
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By Scott Burns If you are in your 50s or early 60s, you’re in the Peril Period. And the Worst of All Possible Worlds appears to be happening. Everything--- home value, 401(k) and job--- is going down the drain just as you’re getting really serious about retirement. How would you like to restore your...
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By Scott Burns Q. In a recent column you suggested paying off a mortgage. Of course, if the desired effect is peace of mind, I would agree. Many people would be well-served to pay off their mortgage. However, I am always amazed at the thinking process in calculating, for example, a 6.8 percent interest...
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By Scott Burns Q. Our youngest child graduated from college last year. Since then we have been able to save a bit more money. By June 2009 we will have 42 months left on our mortgage with 6.8 percent interest. The payoff is projected at about $40,000. My question: Should we pay off the mortgage at that...
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By Scott Burns Q. My parents are looking for a house in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. They are retired. They are trying to decide if they should pay cash for the house. They have close to $620,000 in savings (CDs, 401(k)s, IRA) and are looking for a $200,000 house. They also have about $1,300 in Social...
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By Scott Burns Q: I believe inflation is getting out of hand and the dollar will continue to decline. So I am worried about my future. I am almost 63, have our house paid for, and have about six times my income in retirement savings and investments (not highly productive). I think a good way to protect...
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By Scott Burns Q. Sometime ago your column gave information about what it costs to maintain a home--it was a percent of the value of the home and included utilities, insurance, taxes, etc. Do you still have that information? It might help many home buyers in today’s market. ---C. H., by email A. The...
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By Scott Burns First it was technology stocks. Then houses. Now U.S. Treasury obligations. I guess you can’t keep a bubble down. But it doesn’t seem right. How can a government as irresponsible as ours be rewarded with such low interest rates? The answer, which we all know, is simple. This isn’t about...
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by Scott Burns A new kind of mortgage can, as if by magic, make a 30-year mortgage disappear in half the time. That’s what readers are telling me, just before asking if it is “too good to be true.” The new mortgage is from Australia. It’s called a “line-of-credit mortgage.” Instead of making a monthly...
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Q. Before we were married, my husband purchased a two-bedroom home in Houston in the late ‘80s. We married in 1993 and finished paying off the house by 1998. The house was built in the ‘30s and is showing its age (it has been for some time). I think we should sell the home and invest the money in a new...
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Bayside, Maine. The midday sky darkens as the Surprise slides toward its mooring. We drop the sails. We have everything tied down just as the rain shifts from drops to downpour. The radio announces thunderstorms along the entire midcoast of Maine, an area that may be the most beautiful sailing ground...
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Q. Our townhome will be paid for in 2 years. My husband and I will both be 61. If we sold at that time, we would probably walk away with $400,000 to $450,000. The townhome will be about 15 years old. I am sure there will need to be some repair--- new roof, siding, etc.--- due to the age of the building...
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If you bought a house in Los Angeles in the early ‘90s, you were “catching a falling knife.” Home values were falling. Thousands of buyers in that period spent most of the decade “upside down”--- owing more than they could get if they sold. Today, whatever the angst about the current market, all those...
