Please pardon my epically long title above but I wanted to make a point. You know the famous Frank Sinatra song, My Way, right? Well, a portion of the lyrics are:
Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
How about you? Are your regrets too few to mention?
Most experts agree that we are past the lowest interest rates in history. History!
Did you buy it? Did you refinance? I sure hope so!
Because if you didn’t, you’ll likely regret it. Just how much remains to be seen.
Skeptics say, “What’s the big deal? It’s just a few bucks each month.”
Okay, and I’m sure we all have so much extra money to burn, right?
For a $200,000 loan, here are the different amounts of interest (not principal) you would pay during all of the 30 years, for each interest rate.
3.5% – $123,312.18
4.0% – $143,739.01 (or $20,426.83 more than at 3.5%!)
4.5% – $164,813.42 (or $41,501.24 more than at 3.5%!)
5.0% – $186,511.57 (or $63,199.39 more than at 3.5%!)
5.5% – $208,808.08 (or $85,495.90 more than at 3.5%!)
6.0% – $231,676.38 (or $108,364.20 more than at 3.5%!)
So… do you have an extra $100k lying around to waste on that additional interest? I know I don’t.
Please don’t regret missing out on the best financial home-buying deal of our lifetime. Think of all the extra Starbucks you could buy. ;^)
