He's just a good contact to have...to talk things through. And it's almost like you know him!

Yay! Connections!!!

d, wishing the best speediest recovery for your dad. I know it must be hard being so far away.

How many weeks now?

12 weeks and a few days!

I wish you lived closer to me so I could give you pregnancy massage.

That sounds so awesome! ANother trip to PR?

meara: Yes, I've already discovered that. Which is why I expect he'll probably still be in the hospital by the time I get a chance to get there. I mostly wish they'd just finalize a diagnosis, even though I expect the treatment protocol would be the same or at least not much different.

Stephanie... hmm, maybe! I very much enjoyed my first visit.

I would be putting much less into savings.

Building equity is pretty much equivalent to savings. Less liquid, but you don't want all your assets to be liquid.

25% on housing is probably not the norm in these parts, either, truth be told, but I am willing to live in not-so-nice places far away from everything in order to have more money to spend on food and so forth. I didn't realize Utah was so expensive. I did know SoCal is expensive, but I've only ever lived there when I was unemployed, so I have no internalized correlation between living expenses and income.

Health~ma and info~ma to your dad, d.

Building equity is pretty much equivalent to savings. Less liquid, but you don't want all your assets to be liquid.

Now you're going over my head.

The more liquid, the easier it is to convert to cash.

That is an awesome bike juliana! Mr. Jane will be tres jealous.

P-C, everybody's giving good advice. The other issue with the low payments for 5-10 years is that they are usually IO loans which means you're not building up any equity for those years. Just something to think about.

Generally, our realtors and loan officers advise our clients (who are low-moderate income families, so it may be different for you) not to look at homebuying as something they're going to make money at. Look at the cost/benefit and whether it's the right choice for you.

Hec, Joe Biden was on Diane Rehm this morning talking about how the infastructure is fucked. (He didn't use those words, though I might reconsider my vote if he had).

You can't spend it immediately if you decide you need it. You'd have to sell the condo or borrow against it, not just write a check. You get a higher return on investments that are less liquid, typically.

The other issue with the low payments for 5-10 years is that they are usually IO loans which means you're not building up any equity for those years.

DO NOT do an IO loan unless you are settling in the place for a very long time. IMO.