We don’t know if your price is a good one or not – we don’t even know what you’re buying! Please send us resources to check out and add to this list. Resources you can use while shopping to help figure out pricing for various items: Houses Zillow.com – Contains links to public records and […]
Author Archives: Staff
Total Value
Most people know when they’re overpaying the seller as they buy a house. Most people don’t know how how much they’re going to end up paying the bank if they only pay the minimum mortgage every month… How much is the house worth? $92,000 What price was agreed on for the house? $100,000 How much […]
Number of Payments
Some items are typically financed for longer than other items. Here are some typical timeframes for buying different items: Loans typically secured by the purchased item: Houses: 180 or 360 months. Houses have relatively stable values and long lives with proper care – taking 30 years to pay for one isn’t strange. Cars (Purchase): 48 […]
Monthly Payments
Borrowing an amount of money obligates the buyer to repay the money. The buyer is usually NOT obligated to make a certain number of payments. The loan agreement specifies the exact obligations for that specific loan – refer to that document when making decisions. The monthly payment is actually a minimum amount which is due […]
Down Payment
A Down Payment is additional money you bring to the deal, and pay before the normal monthly payments start. Sometimes lenders avoid risk by requiring that you put in money at the beginning of a deal. Instead of the lender having all the initial risk, a down payment gives the borrower some immediate equity and […]
Negative Equity
You have Equity when the current resale value of a purchased item is more than the remaining borrowed balance. The item is worth more than is owed – to get out of the loan: sell the item and pay off the loan, then keep the extra money. This is a good position to be in. […]
Sales People
Sales-people get paid to sell things – cars, televisions, real-estate, and everything in-between. They’re incentivized to sell more than their coworkers. Bending a rule can give them an edge over their coworkers, but only until their coworkers begin bending that rule too and everyone is doing it. Then someone goes and bends that rule further, […]
Final Lease Value
The final lease value is a projection. Determining the fair market-value at some projected point in the future can be very difficult to do accurately. Companies that lease cars hire mathematicians to provide the most accurate answers, but there are reasons they might want that number to be higher, or lower. A higher final value […]
Borrowing Or Saving
When making a large purchase, there are two options: save the money, or borrow the money. Deciding between the two can sometimes be a very clear and personal decision… other times there may be no choice at all. These are some situations where there are reduced choices: In these cases, saving may not be a […]
Leasing A Car
Lease agreements define a period of time where you will have use of something (a car). The items current value is determined, and the items value estimated at the end of the lease. The difference between Borrowing money to pay for a car makes buying a car much easier. Your car loan may allow you […]