You are lucky, out there. We in india have to deal with home loan rates greater than 10% pa, reducing balance. The only advantage is tax breaks on principal and interest payments
-- srs (blackberry) -----Original Message----- From: John Sundman <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:39:47 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [silk] What is the greatest human invention? Suresh, Sorry if I responded too testily. I appreciate your good wishes. I'm sure I have a bit of a "hair trigger", having received over the years people telling me & my wife "you should do this" or "your should do that" when they have no idea what our actual circumstances are, why we have made the decisions we have made, what constraints we are under. I do understand that it's sometimes best to cut one's losses. In our case, it makes the most sense, insofar as we are able to judge, to hold on to what we have. Under the terms of our new mortgage, we're paying 2% interest, and that's locked in for the next several years. The highest it can go is 4.5%. If, a few years from now it seems that we should sell, we'll find some way to come to terms with that, I'm sure. Although we're not getting any younger, and the prospect is not enticing. Thanks for your clarification, jrs On Jan 29, 2012, at 11:28 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote: > Hi John > > This was actually well meant and I am sorry if you thought it condescending. > > Sometimes in finance cutting losses by exiting an investment of any sort is > actually a good way to go. It may not be applicable in your case, I > acknowledge. > > My personal experience has been in closing down some dud "insurance + > investment" type policies to the tune of about 100k rupees annual premium > that an agent had sold my wife years back, and replacing them with term life > insurance plans > > > -- > srs (blackberry) > > -----Original Message----- > From: John Sundman <[email protected]> > Sender: [email protected] > Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:19:50 > To: <[email protected]> > Reply-To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [silk] What is the greatest human invention? > > Hello Suresh, > > With all due respect, your comment seems at the least presumptuous, if not > outright condescending. > Do you think I have not considered such things as you suggest -- when, as > I've said, I've lived with a virtual gun to my head? > My situation is vastly more complicated that I care to elaborate here -- and > indeed, contrariwise, I would not be surprised if your own personal life > situation contains subtleties and complexities that I never could have > imagined. > So I guess what I'm saying is, I'm happy to get any friendly advice from any > quarter, but maybe we can keep such things off list? I'm john@wetmachine. > > Regards, > > jrs > > > On Jan 29, 2012, at 10:56 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote: > >> Hi John >> >> It MAY be strategic to sell an asset that has depreciated in value far lower >> than the amount of outstanding loan you have on it >> >> Like buying a 400k home whose value has fallen to 200k, and buying a smaller >> apartment at closer to normal rates. >> >> In such markets it also makes sense to go debt free, 100 percent. > >
