The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Real Estate and Landlording => Topic started by: FrugalFisherman10 on August 10, 2017, 10:33:18 AM
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https://www.mgic.com/mgic/buynow/?utm_source=dpr&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=bvw&utm_term=blog-is-mortgage-insurance-really-worth-it&utm_content=embed-url (https://www.mgic.com/mgic/buynow/?utm_source=dpr&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=bvw&utm_term=blog-is-mortgage-insurance-really-worth-it&utm_content=embed-url)
It seems to me this calculator just always tells you "buy now", as long as you have the following two inputs met:
1. enough money for the down payment (based on a 3% down payment)
2. based on the price of the house you put in
What's really shocking is the phrasing they use in the 'recommendation':
"Consider this: if you buy now, after 3.42 years you will have reached $46,498 in home equity"
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scrolls down to "Grand total after 3.42 years"
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Under "Wait to Buy" it shows greater home equity in 3.42 years (because you buy with a higher down payment).
<<rolls eyes>>
Am I missing something, or is this calculator just garbage, pushing their products?
Seems they have a pig of a calculator, and they put lipstick on it.
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Yeah they're definitely pushing their own idea of "buy now!!!1!!" And their calculator points out all the negatives of renting but fails to mention any of the negatives of homeownership. The reality is there are ups and downs to each.
The New York Times has a rent / buy calculator that is way better.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html)
I will say I went against the advice of saving 20% first because I could have put 20% down but that would have eliminated my entire emergency fund. So I checked what my local credit union would charge me in PMI, it's less than $15 a month. Pretty cheap price for all that flexibility in my book.
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Haha, that calculator said I would have 123,731 in equity after 3.5 years. hmmmmmm.....
Maybe they're assuming the housing market goes way up?