On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 10:03:54 -0800, Bill wrote:
Prior to buying my house, the realtors kept telling me I was "qualified" for
much more expensive homes than the homes I was looking at. They almost
refused to show me the less expensive homes. I had to say "bye!" and start
to walk out before they got the hint.

Anyway I stuck to my guns and bought something which I could afford *and*
have extra money left over each month. Also I insisted on a fixed rate
mortgage.

I can see where people with little will power (being polite to realtor, not
wanting to "offend" them, etc.) could get themselves in a heap of trouble!


Oh boy, tell me about it. We didn't get pushed at all by our buyer's agent,
but the banks were insane. All we wanted was a $100K loan. The banks kept
pushing back with "But you can qualify for a $200K loan! You should do it!
Real Estate is a solid investment - come on, you can afford it!"

So here we are 12 years later, house almost all paid off, plenty of
money going into retirement and college savings, with enough left over
that we can pretty much do any fun thing we want. Meanwhile, the people
we know who *did* end up getting those larger loans... well, I guess you
can learn to like eating beans and spaghetti almost every night.

- Rich

--
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.