[persian54]

You could do a compromise... pay off half, keep half

this way, you still save ~$2k in interested, while still having over half the $ left.


How can you put a downpayment on a house with only 30k in CA?

Not sure how real estate is up in San Jose though...

[persian54]

4k in 3 years is only $111/month, no that much money at all.


Assuming you have 30k car...
(estimating here) You could buy a condo for 100k, put 20% down (leaving you with about 8% in cash, since you'll need to spend a little for fees and such).

100k (loan is only 80k, but you put the 20k upfront and should, imo, calculate that as well since you're here to make money off that 20k) at 5% is a little over $500/month... assuming $300 HOA fees for the condo, you're looking at $800/month cost.
Assuming rents there are similar to what they are around here, a 100k condo will gross about $1000-1300.month in rental income.
in that regard, that $20k is making you $200-400/month, plus paying off the mortgage on a property

yes, there will be downtime with vacancies, maintenance...etc... so even if you say you even out (cost of the condo matches your rental income), at least you walked away with a piece of real estate

It's late and I am tired, so if my numbers are off, sorry, I didn't use a calculator.

[Alpine Whiteboy]

I'm in the same boat. Just bought a new car and owe about $19k on it. I have a 3 year finance on it but with the money I save every month I will be able to pay it off by December. I am trying to buy a house within the next 2 years so paying off the car to avoid interest rates, and being able to lower my insurance rates afterwards, the money I will be saving AFTER that will hopefully make me more money once I figure out what I could do with the extra $500 that I now don't have to spend on a car note every month. Plus paying off the loan will bring up my credit score, which will help me when shopping for a house

[CoconutPete]

How about option c? Refinance the car through a credit union and get a decent interest rate. 7% is WAY too much to be paying on your car these days. If you have credit that is as good as you say then you should at least be able to get 1.9% like I just got on mine.

[Seminole]

Originally Posted by CoconutPete

How about option c? Refinance the car through a credit union and get a decent interest rate. 7% is WAY too much to be paying on your car these days. If you have credit that is as good as you say then you should at least be able to get 1.9% like I just got on mine.

7% was a hypothetical rate I came up with when trying to get to his interest payment. I have a feeling it, and his actual interest he is paying, is much lower.

[CoconutPete]

Originally Posted by Seminole

7% was a hypothetical rate I came up with when trying to get to his interest payment. I have a feeling it, and his actual interest he is paying, is much lower.

It's hard to guess with him not wanting to disclose anything, but if the interest rate is low then I'd be in favor of maybe just making a "balloon payment" of 1/2 or 1/3 of the balance and keeping the rest.

I keep my money on 4 different floors:
1: Bank
2: Money market account
3: Investment accounts - for playing around
4: 401K / Rollover IRA's etc

99% of the time, money parked on floors 3 and 4 earn more than I pay in interest, so unless I have excess cash parked on floors 1 and 2 I don't put it towards paying off depreciating assets.

[MisterSkiMask]

Originally Posted by CoconutPete

How about option c? Refinance the car through a credit union and get a decent interest rate. 7% is WAY too much to be paying on your car these days. If you have credit that is as good as you say then you should at least be able to get 1.9% like I just got on mine.

This is not a bad idea for a couple of reasons. If you are trying to buy a house and you have a good credit score but light credit, having and paying off car loans will really help. Also it will be easier to buy a house if you don't have a car payment for the lender to be worried about.

[nusevad]

pay it off, i was under a 5 year finance, and paid it off after 2. I calculated and it didnt make sense to keep paying interest when I had the means to pay it off right away and still have more than enough to be comfortable. Do it, it feels good man

[clickclickboom]

Pay it off. Open savings account for automobile purchases only. Put money in the account every pay. Never pay interest again and earn a little on the way.
The average person fails to plan. They have a car payment their whole life. Think of all the money they waste.

[ibarry92]

Ask Suzie Orman?