Credit Card Bill debate

[Ksandra]

imo (admit with no figures) if you were interested in a house this is around the time to buy. We're at a low, and if you buy now, it's not unrealistic to assume within 10-15 years you'll get a profit out of it. I think it'd be pretty safe to say once the economy is out of the shitter, housing prices are going to start increasing at a fast rate to get back to where they were initially.

[Darus Grey]

imo (admit with no figures) if you were interested in a house this is around the time to buy. We're at a low, and if you buy now, it's not unrealistic to assume within 10-15 years you'll get a profit out of it. I think it'd be pretty safe to say once the economy is out of the shitter, housing prices are going to start increasing at a fast rate to get back to where they were initially.

"Initially" they were hyper-over-valued. If home prices start skyrocketing again that's when you know shit is gonna come collapsing down...again. We have *too many* houses in the US right now, more than the market demands....gigantic swathes of building projects no one ever moved into but were built because homes were a "good investment".

Home prices aren't going up significantly for awhile, there's more supply than demand.

A home would have to almost triple in value over 10-15 years just to break even.

Homes are NOT a monetary investment with a ROI...they are NOT...people need to stop thinking that because that's what got us where we are now.

It's like when my father buys scrap metal and is like "oh, coppers $1.93, I'll give you $1.80" and all he sees is that +$0.13 and *ignores every cost inbetween*.

You buy a home because you want a home, there is no fiscal benefit to it other than having a stable place to live(once you actually own it outright).

[Serif]

Was listening to Dave Ramsey yesterday and he mentioned that only 3% of 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgages pay their initial payment plus more.

It is financially responsible to save up 80-90% for a house, I do agree with Darus Grey on that, but the rates we are getting now it isn't too hard to have 20-40% paid off and live nicely if that is your only debt.

It just depends on how bad inflation gets to say if houses are going to go up or not. There will always be demand for houses, the hype about how most houses are not being sold are mainly in the 5 states?(Cali/Nevada/Florida/Michigan/???) but still affect some people. It is a buyers market for people but it still sucks for sellers because they are eating a huge loss. I think if people can wait another year on their houses they will see some leveling out.

[Seraph]

You buy a home because you want a home, there is no fiscal benefit to it other than having a stable place to live(once you actually own it outright).

Pretty much this spot on. Sure, houses aren't as much as they were a year ago, but just because the houses are cheaper doesn't mean they are good buys. With the current market you have to assume if you buy a house you will be stuck there for awhile.

Even if the house 'probably pulls you a profit' in 10 to 15 years, chances are you could have made far more money just investing into low risk financial packages over that same period of time with the cost difference of not owning a home.

Owning a home has one again become what it should have been all along: a lifestyle choice, not an investment plan.

[Serif]

Pretty much this spot on. Sure, houses aren't as much as they were a year ago, but just because the houses are cheaper doesn't mean they are good buys. With the current market you have to assume if you buy a house you will be stuck there for awhile.

Even if the house 'probably pulls you a profit' in 10 to 15 years, chances are you could have made far more money just investing into low risk financial packages over that same period of time with the cost difference of not owning a home.

Owning a home has one again become what it should have been all along: a lifestyle choice, not an investment plan.

The only times I saw buying a house an investment plan was when everyone and their Mom bought houses to "flip." Also, rentals are just a bad idea unless you are in a town or city with a HIGH demand for rentals, such as a college town.

The only investment I see with a house is for a family. You start off with a small home and if you can pay it off you then move up to a larger home keeping all the equity from your previous house.

[Seraph]

The only times I saw buying a house an investment plan was when everyone and their Mom bought houses to "flip." Also, rentals are just a bad idea unless you are in a town or city with a HIGH demand for rentals, such as a college town.

The only investment I see with a house is for a family. You start off with a small home and if you can pay it off you then move up to a larger home keeping all the equity from your previous house.

I've seen tons of people thinking "we can buy this house, pay it all off, live in it for awhile, and sell it and retire!" and then the value of the house either didn't go up like they expected, or went down, and they got screwed because they were counting on the future home sale to support them.

Trying to flip the houses is even worse, but I'm more concerned about real people who got hurt here, not silly TLC wannabees.

[Zalius]

im worth -122 dollars presently. but my credit score is ballin. its awesome.

[Serif]

im worth -122 dollars presently. but my credit score is ballin. its awesome.

I would be in full bat shit crazy mode if I was in your spot. I get depressed when my checking account is below 1k. Then I look at my savings and calm down.

Since we are on the subject of money and shit, do a lot of people on here save for retirement? I know I invest the max 5k a year into my RothIRA, don't have a match at my employer, and then I throw easily 25%+ of my income into savings for either investing/saving up to pay my next car off in cash/down payment on a house.

The people on TLC with flip this house are fun to watch but when joe schmoe comes in and tries it usually goes to shit.

[Khamsin]

Like it or not, though, anybody who can afford a house will probably prefer to live in one over an apartment in the long term. Do you really want to have a family in a three bedroom apartment, or retire to a studio apartment, if you can afford better?

It may not be the best investment comparing other alternatives for your money, but some people just don't want to live next to 50 other people in a shared parking lot, and have to worry about how late they do laundry or how loud the TV is in their bedroom.

The same arguments for houses could be made for any number of things. I could drive a cheap used car and eat ramen noodles, or I could drive what I want to drive and eat what I want to eat. I could move out into the boonies, or live closer to where the action is. It's mostly about balancing what you can afford and what quality of life you want.

[Darus Grey]

Like it or not, though, anybody who can afford a house will probably prefer to live in one over an apartment in the long term. Do you really want to have a family in a three bedroom apartment, or retire to a studio apartment, if you can afford better?

It may not be the best investment comparing other alternatives for your money, but some people just don't want to live next to 50 other people in a shared parking lot, and have to worry about how late they do laundry or how loud the TV is in their bedroom.

The same arguments for houses could be made for any number of things. I could drive a cheap used car and eat ramen noodles, or I could drive what I want to drive and eat what I want to eat. I could move out into the boonies, or live closer to where the action is. It's mostly about balancing what you can afford and what quality of life you want.

That's the entire point of my argument. Just don't do it cause you think you're somehow making money off it, or even breaking even, but cause you want it and feel it's worth it to your quality of life.

[Khamsin]

I do have one credit question of my own, as long as we have a thread for it:

I have about 5 retail credit cards that I have not used in years. There's no annual fee or anything, so it doesn't really bother me. But I've considered closing them all out. As it is, I have 6 open revolving accounts, only 1 of which is my actual CC, the other 5 are those retail cards that have been collecting dust.

Is it better to have those 5 accounts remain open, or to close them out? Is it better to close them out all at the same time, or spread it out?

[Serif]

If I recall your Credit Score will take a little bit of a hit from closing the accounts. If this is true, I would maybe do it staggered to see how much for each?

[Khamsin]

If I recall your Credit Score will take a little bit of a hit from closing the accounts. If this is true, I would maybe do it staggered to see how much for each?

I wasn't sure if it only hurts you when you close a recently active account, or if it still hurts you when closing an account that has seen no activity for a period of time.

[archibaldcrane]

Khamsin - are any of them the line of credit you've had the longest, or is your active credit card also your credit line of the longest duration?

If there's no monthly fees, you should not close your longest-duration line of credit - that will definitely hurt your credit score.

[Khamsin]

Khamsin - are any of them the line of credit you've had the longest, or is your active credit card also your credit line of the longest duration?

If there's no monthly fees, you should not close your longest-duration line of credit - that will definitely hurt your credit score.

They're all older than my current credit card. So I should keep the oldest retail credit card, and my actual credit card, and close the rest?

[Ksandra]

I do have one credit question of my own, as long as we have a thread for it:

I have about 5 retail credit cards that I have not used in years. There's no annual fee or anything, so it doesn't really bother me. But I've considered closing them all out. As it is, I have 6 open revolving accounts, only 1 of which is my actual CC, the other 5 are those retail cards that have been collecting dust.

Is it better to have those 5 accounts remain open, or to close them out? Is it better to close them out all at the same time, or spread it out?

fyi I have been hearing (and seeing) that cc companies have started closing out inactive cards if you haven't used them in X months. I can imagine department cards might wait a lot longer, but you might want to check and see if they haven't been closed already.

[archibaldcrane]

Whether you want to close the rest is up to you, I'm just telling you that you should definitely -not- close the oldest one.

[Khamsin]

By the way, I just received a statement from my insurance company for renewal of my policy, and it included an outline of the things they checked on my credit when renewing:

Months since your earliest reported loan or revolving account opened: 117 (Average: 126)
Your age when your earliest reported loan or revolving account opened: 19 (Average: 26)

Percent of available credit used on revolving accounts: 39 (Average: 37)

Number of loans and accounts with a satisfactory current payment status: 6 (Average: 5)
Number of installment loans in collection, default, repossession, foreclosure or charge-off: 0 (Average: 2)

Months since your most recent collection, default, repossession, foreclosure or charge-off: N/A (Average: 6)
Months since your most recent revolving account 30 days past due: N/A (Average: 70)

I have no current card from when I was 19, yet it was reported that's when my earliest line of credit started. Is it still important to actually still maintain your oldest line of credit, or does it only matter how early you had credit?

[archibaldcrane]

I've read numerous places that it's important to still have that oldest line of credit open - that snapshot you received from your insurance company doesn't show your entire credit scenario, take it with a grain of salt.

[Khamsin]

I've read numerous places that it's important to still have that oldest line of credit open - that snapshot you received from your insurance company doesn't show your entire credit scenario, take it with a grain of salt.

I'm mostly just using it as a sign that they know how early I've had credit, although I may no longer still have my very first line of credit still open. My current credit card is from 2005, although the retail cards go earlier than 2003. I don't think I still have anything from when I was 19, like what the snapshot mentioned.