Written back in the whiz-bang days of historically low mortgage rates. As interest rates rise, the term House Poor may return to the vocabulary?
The expression “house poor” has become a rarity these days when it comes to purchasing a house. It is unclear why this term has vanished, but realtors hardly ever use it to warn potential buyers against getting into too much long-term debt. Instead, they often do the opposite. The code phrase to other realtors would be for buying too much House now, might be “buying a house they can grow into.”
With the current rate of interest for mortgages, it seems like a great idea to take on as much House as you can, especially if you are young because you have so many things ahead of you:
- You will need more space because you are going to have kids
- You will make more money soon because your career is only starting
Photo by Mike Alexander
A real estate agent once tried to convince me to overbuy a house in 1990. However, I didn’t fall for their suggestion. At that time, our first mortgage rate was 12.9%. Therefore, we locked in for five years which seemed like a great deal. Due to high interest rates, we didn’t add more to the principal as it would have increased our monthly payment.
These days you can get a mortgage at 2.95% (at best). Thus adding more principal wouldn’t change much. You might even be tempted to borrow more money to:
- Get some new appliances for your house
- Consolidate your credit card debt
- Add in your moving expenses, land transfer taxes and maybe a nice vacation
- Add in your Student Loans
At that rate of interest why not?
Let me be clear in my answer, “What are you NUTS ?!?”. We live with historically low interest rates, which will eventually go up. What do you do when that happens? My guess is assuming the rates can’t go up because the fragile economy will catch a bunch of folks off guard.
Has anybody else ever heard the expression House Poor lately?
Not lately, but I’m sure it will become one of those rebound words in time. For those not understanding the term, it might make sense in due time. There is nothing “different” this time, as most seem to believe… – Cheers.
You mean house prices don’t keep going up AND interest rates might go up? That’s CRAZY talk
I have a friend and a relative who both decided not to move to a bigger house a few years ago. They both have now paid off their mortgages, one before 40 the other before 50 and they are very, very happy they didn’t upsize. They have been able to travel more, enjoy more sports etc with the money they didn’t waste. And their kids are fine too. It’s important not to get sucked into the need for bigger just because of what some other people want, if it’s not want you truly want.
That is the upside of paying off your house fast, you give yourself a Virtual Pay Raise!
Ignoring the idea of borrowing for depreciating assets/vacations, if someone has a lot of credit card debt, they probably shouldn’t be getting a mortgage in the first place.
However, if that credit card is charging them 20% interest, consolidating that debt into 3% seems like a valid strategy. Even if 3% turns into 10%, it’s still a lot better than 20%…
I think your first point is correct, but that won’t stop a bank from “trussing them up like a Christmas Goose” in loans either.
I really don’t like the second part, pay off the credit first THEN get a mortgage.
In the U.S., they have balloon interest payments (or did have). Low interest rates upfront then HUGE interest rates after a few years. People bought into huge houses they could only afford at the low interest rate, counting on being able to pay the higher interest rates later.
Except they couldn’t afford the high interest rates later. And the result? The U.S. housing collapse of a few years ago. I personally spoke to Americans in the throes of losing their homes as the result of huge interest rate increases.
By comparison (not contrast!) we’re enjoying record low interest rates in Canada. At 2.99%, how much lower can they go? There is a bottom limit on this. How much higher can they go? A lot higher. What happens if your mortgage that you can afford at 2.99% goes to 8.5%? Do you lose your house?
What consumers should be doing IMO is mortgaging for an amount they can afford at a higher interest so that they’re safe when that time comes. Then use the low interest rate period to pay off the balance as fast as you can.
Very good points Glenn, and glad to see I seem to have alleviated your comment issues too! 🙂