Kit's Kitty Korner [2 to 30!]

[Lemon Cheesecake]

nice!

[galled]

Nice! That work took years (decades) to develop. Probably was in need of attention for a long time.

Kit , I don't recall if you've ever said it, is your house the house you grew up in?

[Kitalpha Hart]

Yes it is
So technically I never moved out LOL

[Gingerale]

How wonderful you can keep up the family legacy. I moved several times as a kid & even after that my parents moved a couple times.

[galled]

That is so awesome. It is so special. It must be so satisfying.

We moved too. It is very common today I think.

[Kitalpha Hart]

Considering how much shit needs to be done around the house that's been neglected for nearly 30 years because mom still can't say no to my sister, eh
It was so mom n dad could buy grandma n grandpas house. Mostly mom. Sell to me and use the money to clear out their credit card debt so they could afford it
Everything dad's doing is for resale value. If he outlives mom, he's putting the house up for market and leaving

[galled]

Houses are like that--it's constant upkeep. Granted there has been massive backlog/build up, but a little at a time will get you there. You're smart and going about it well--prioritize needs vs wants vs just would be nice.

Did you get hit with the storms?

[Kitalpha Hart]

Rain. That's it
I've seen videos of Appalachia being completely wrecked though. Ouch

To be fair I did have an upset. At the local Ashley Furniture with a friend of mine. Checking out what they have. Free chips cuz they'd recently opened. Cool. Lots of greige (grey/beige). Friend joking about getting some of the sectionals for her apartment. They curve and are meant for BIG houses with BIG rooms. So not where she lives LOL. See a blue chair. Bonus for being round. Unique! Go and flop on it. IT FUCKING SPINS TOO
Also found a pouf i liked there (and another earlier at Target). Between chair and pour, dropped 1k. Pouf was immediate take, being small. Chair is pickup from their distribution center on the 12th
And then the mortgage hit so i gotta rebuild my savings. Again

We did see other spinny usually-round chairs but the blue one we both liked the most. The spinny armchair was wild tho. Why does that spin?????

[Lemon Cheesecake]

yup, mortgage payments can be worse than renting but ... you get to keep the money if you sell.

A lot is about budgeting and prioritizing.

[Kitalpha Hart]

Yeah mine went up so it's now a bit over $1100/month
Same month we also got a $1.50/hour across the board raise but between that and I guess insurance premiums rising the raise got eaten
But it's only been a month since the raise hit so gonna take a bit to tell for sure

[galled]

When interest rates go down start looking for refi's. A low fixed refi will stabolize all future raises. I shop around for insurance every few years too. The industry (like everything) changes constantly.

[Kitalpha Hart]

Yeah I've got a 6.5% interest rate, which by my understanding is super good these days

[Lemon Cheesecake]

It all eats up a homeowner's wage: mortgage, insurance premiums, utility costs, property taxes, repairs, the list goes on

Are you still thinking of bringing in a renter to help with costs?

[galled]

As of today a 30 year fixed is 6.2% so it's about average.
https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/30-y ... age-rates/

Not enough of a difference to refi, but fixed is way preferable over the long haul if you can get a good rate. Your payments will be the same over the life of your loan. Variables make sense if you're going to flip or refi again the near future (1-5 years). You can save hundreds of thousands over the life of your loan by locking in a low fixed rate. It's crazy how compounded interest adds up!

Just keep an eye on things periodically--it'll pay off.

[Kitalpha Hart]

Yeah pretty sure I've got a fixed rate for the interest
Plus when I get near the end they're gonna drop a lot
Plus if I want and have the money I can throw more money at it and it'll go to the principal and it won't cost me fines or anything
So if, say, I won the lottery, I could pay it off entirely and not have any fines for it
It's low-key tempting to do so on the off chance I do win I'd have to play first lol a not-small amount
Cuz anything below 50k would be saved. Home fixing. Vehicle. Anything above would go right to the mortgage. So if I won one that hit 100k(ish), I could knock out half the mortgage in one payment. Or throw 2k at it for several months. Whatever