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PLAN4.CHP
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1992-11-06
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#EF
#T15,4,MORTGAGES, REFINANCING, & OTHER HOME-RELATED STUFF
#C3,R5
PURCHASE OR SALE OF A HOME
OR OTHER RESIDENCE
For most people, buying or selling a home is likely to be the largest
personal financial transaction they will make in their lives.
#D3
~C~IBUYING~N
From a financial planning and budgeting point of view, buying a home
involves a substantial cash outflow - the down payment, closing costs
and fees, and, possibly, mortgage "Points". It also involves a commit-
ment to regular monthly mortgage payments. And, finally, because the
interest portion of the payments is deductible for tax purposes, cash
flow in all years of the mortgage is doubly affected.
#W
%
#EW
#C3,R5
~C~IREFINANCING~N
A mortgage is seldom a one-time thing. Interest rates go up and down in
response to the demand for the total available loan funds. If the rates
go down, it may (or may not) be to your advantage to renegotiate your
present mortgage. There are some rough rules-of-thumb to help make a
decision, but the best decision can be made only if all the pertinent facts
of your own unique financial position are considered.
#D5
~C~ISELLING~N
Selling a home will, hopefully, generate a profit. From a financial plan
point of view, the profit may or may not be taxable - you have an option.
The amount of the tax depends on your age at time of selling, what portion
of the sale proceeds is reinvested in another home, and whether or not you
wish to take advantage on that sale of a once-in-a-lifetime exclusion from
taxable income of up to $ 125000 of the profit from the home sale.
#WP
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#EW
#C3,R5
THE FINANCIAL PLANNER includes programs to assist your decision making
in all three of the areas just mentioned:
~C~IBUYING:~N
The program "MORTGAGE" quickly calculates the periodic payments for a mort-
gage, as well as the total interest and total payments over the life of the
mortgage.
You can easily compare the cost of various mortgage plans by running the
program once for each plan.
You can choose either a brief payment schedule (summarized by years), or a
detailed schedule, showing all payments month by month.
#WP
%
#EW
#C1,R4
~C~IREFINANCE YOUR MORTGAGE?~N
Mortgage rates vary from time to time - sometimes rising, sometimes dropping.
When mortgage rates drop below the rate you are currently paying , you have the
possibility of refinancing your mortgage at a lower rate. If you do so, you can
reduce your monthly payment amount, and, over the life of the mortgage, you may
significantly reduce the total interest paid.
#D5
~C~IShould you refinance?~N
#D1
That depends. There are costs associated with refinancing. These costs usually
include "Points", closing costs and fees, and, maybe, a mortgage prepayment
penalty. If you plan to remain in your present home long enough that the total
you will save on monthly payments is greater than these costs, you may want to
refinance.
#BN,5,19,75,23,1,0,1,3,0,3
A commonly used rule-of-thumb is this: If the new mortgage rate
is 2% or more under your present rate, and, if you plan to stay
in your present home at least two more years, then refinance...
#WP
%
#EW
#C3,R5
~W~ICAUTIONARY COMMENTS~N
However, you should keep in mind that this is only a rule-of-thumb. There's
a lot of money involved, and a decision-- to refinance or not-- should be
based on ~W~Iall~N the circumstances of your own individual financial position.
~C~IExample 1:~N
Refinancing for a savings of less than 2% might nonetheless be attractive
if you know you will be staying put quite a bit longer than than two years.
~C~IExample 2:~N
Any refinancing arrangement at a reduced interest rate will reduce your
monthly payment. ~C~IHowever,~N because most such refinancing arrangements not
only reduce the mortgage rate but also extend the mortgage term back to its
original length, the reduction in the monthly payment results in part from
the lower mortgage rate and in part from stretching out the mortgage term.
Thus, it is possible that the new mortgage at the lower rate may actually
cost you more over its life--even though it is at a lower interest rate!
#WP
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#EW
#C3,R5
~C~IMAKING THE BEST OF IT~N
To briefly recap:
1. Your monthly payment will be reduced.
2. Your mortgage term may be extended.
The Refinance? program in THE FINANCIAL PLANNER assists you in comparing any
proposed new mortgage terms to your present mortgage terms. It will calc-
ulate what your new monthly payments would be, how long you would have to re-
main in your present home to recover the added cost for the up-front "points"
and new closing costs, how much interest you would save over the entire life
of the mortgage, and in what year those savings reach their highest point.
#WP
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#EW
#C3,R5
The program makes the calculations in two ways:-
(1) ignoring the effects of income taxes (the program refers to this as
Lender's estimate, as this is the way lender's analyses are made),
(2) more realistically - including your personal income tax and investment
situations.
You can see a worked out example of the program by accepting the sample
values already entered in the program, just pressing the <ESC> key to
start the program run...
#WP
#X