Smart Money Tips for 2008

[DaveR]

http://www.boston.com/business/gallery/budget_tips_2008/

[House]

timely

[Fletch]

"Consider borrowing against your home equity when it's time to make repairs."

I know this is true, but I have to tell this....a friend of mine took out a large sum of money in her equity to redo her whole house! Now, she is in major, major debt. It may be possible that she may have to sell her house at a loss.

Shouldn't we be careful about the amount of equity loan, as well, and whether you can pay it back?

(hope all of that makes sense).

[gman]

"Consider borrowing against your home equity when it's time to make repairs."

I know this is true, but I have to tell this....a friend of mine took out a large sum of money in her equity to redo her whole house! Now, she is in major, major debt. It may be possible that she may have to sell her house at a loss.

Shouldn't we be careful about the amount of equity loan, as well, and whether you can pay it back?

(hope all of that makes sense).

My wife and I are of the present mindset to never borrow money against our home. It's not a surprise that we will need to do repairs in the future so we have an emergency fund to cover those. We are also saving for some home improvements like replacing windows ,bathroom upgrade then kitchen upgrade. We have the money saved for the windows which we will do in the spring then we will start saving for the bathroom upgrade and then do the kitchen upgrade. I think people forget if they over leverage their home with the equity loans that they can get foreclosed on as well.

Your friends situation sounds awful in that she may have to sell her house in a down housing market

-G

[maryannsms]

Create a plan to save money every single week. If you are not saving a percentage of your income on a regular basis, you can pretty much forget about building wealth. This is a trait and a habit that all people who achieve their own independence financially MUST have.