Money, Money, Money

I just adore watching Susy Orman talk about money and the foolish things we do with money and good advice about what we should be taking into account for our decisions about money. OK, she does go a little over the top, but that's what clickers are for.

So in my head I laid out my money situation for Susy--I have a five year fixed at 5.875% that's going to switch to an adjustable in 3 years. My loan to value is pretty good, but I'm afraid about what interest rates are going to do in the future and what the values will be in three years and what loans will be available at all in three years. I have an opportunity to refinance, but its a 30 year loan at 6.25% with about $2,000 in costs for the loan. So the ballpark cost to go from 5.785% to 6.25% is about 600 per year for three years, but who knows what will happen in year four.

Now, I'd probably never say this to Susy, but I hate my house. The darn thing is ugly and it dresses funny. There's no airconditioning, there's no central heat, there's a buzzing in my room that is slowly but surely driving me insane and the tap water stinks. But it is a roof over my head (and the heads of several family members, give or take), so it is what it is.

Anyhoo, $3,800 for peace of mind--what would Susy say? In my head she says, how does this five year fixed time bomb make you feel? Lousy. Can you afford the new loan? Yes, probably. With this new loan and the security of 30 years knowing exactly what you have to pay--will that give you the incentive to finally make the house what you want it to be? That may be going a little too far Susy, but I do know that I breathed a huge sigh of relief, when the bank called to say I was approved. And that Susy would say is the whole ballgame.