Otherwise je suis screwée.

I think you mean je suis fuckée.

And I think you can get COBRA regardless (if your employers were providing health insurance).

Hey, you can get COBRA at the end of a contract, right? You don't have to be laid off, or anything?

I got COBRA when I quit my last job, so I would think you can get it at the end of a contract.

I am one of those bay area people with a crazy mortgage.

Um, by crazy mortgages, I meant people that put no money down, and/or have reverse mortgages, or interest-only mortgages.

I meant people that put no money down, and/or have reverse mortgages, or interest-only mortgages.

That housing blog I mentioned upthread highlights people who obviously had these kinds of loans, and/or got a little home-equity-line-of-credit/refinancing happy and are now forced to sell their house (or walk away from it, leaving the bank to sell it). A lot of houses/condos featured on the blog are now going for $100-200K less than they were purchased for one or two years ago. The financing histories of some of these places is just outrageous (today's was bought with two mortgages and only $450 down--not $450K, but $450 total!).

Not crazy by that definition -- but crazy by my definition. the mortgage eats a lot of our take home.

I know a couple of people with interest only mortgages. 1 couple -- it saved them while he was barely working. Now they are back to paying the 'normal' amount. The other couple,they aren't going to be living in the house they have now forever. But,I don't think there is any debt other than the house -- meaning all the ( big) home improvements were cash. They have the ability to wait out the market .Interest only seems to work under some circumstances.

Interest-only works if the value of the house appreciates faster than the interest rate you are paying. Otherwise, you are pretty much screwed.

Otherwise je suis screwée.

I think you mean je suis fuckée.

Whichever one is less grammatically correct.

I worry also that my benefits are currently so good that my COBRA rates will be insanely high, but I can't risk a gap in coverage.

When I consolidated my grad school loans, I made them interest-only the first two years when I was adjuncting, which I still kick myself over. Of course, I couldn't really have managed any other way but still.

Also, I didn't realize at first that they also automatically extended the payment to 30 years at the same time. At least I noticed when the payments went up and could change it back to 10.

Some tool just corrected my spelling of "grampa." As in, what one may call their grandfather.

He says it's supposed to be "granpa."

SRSLY SHUT UP.

That housing blog I mentioned upthread highlights people who obviously had these kinds of loans, and/or got a little home-equity-line-of-credit/refinancing happy and are now forced to sell their house (or walk away from it, leaving the bank to sell it).

That one cherry picks the worst of the worst, though, so I suspect it's not really a true picture. (Bad as the true picture certainly is.)

Interest-only works if the value of the house appreciates faster than the interest rate you are paying. Otherwise, you are pretty much screwed.

Well, if it's appreciating at all you're still staying even, aren't you? Not making money, maybe, but in the first big chunk of a thirty-year you're not paying down much on the principal to begin with.