In the roughly two weeks since I moved in, I've received no less than six "offers" from various companies who wish to ensure that the substantial investment I've made in the California real estate (my house) doesn't vanish.
To that end, they propose that I given them a bit of money so that they can help in case something goes wrong.
Riiiight.
Well, my dear financial trolls, I have news for you. There's a very good reason I put more than 25% down on the place at closing time. I didn't want to have to deal with paying a couple hundred bucks every month in mortgage insurance, otherwise known as "throwing money down the drain."
I can do far more good with that extra cash by putting it toward the loan or investing it in something relatively safe.
I had forgotten how much physical mail you get as the result of moving into a newly purchase home. It really is quite insane.
[This is part of a series of posts on the home buying process
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Posted by jzawodn at March 20, 2004 08:25 PM
it will also be fun to watch who they sell your info to, within 24 hours of putting my house on the market in DC I got three calls from moving companies. I wish spam assassin work against snail mail and the phone too.
We get a lot of the "You can get X thousand dollars of CA$H from the equity in your home!" type things (uhh -- didn't I just buy it? Why would I want to get cash out now?). Also, a lot of pushy door to door sales people who seem to be keyed off the home sales reports in the paper -- unlike regular vampires, these come out during the day. The wonders of home ownership!
I went through the same thing when buying a house in the UK, although somehow my name and contact details were leaked before the mortgage went through so I also had multiple calls from so-called Mortgage Advisors; one actually sounded wounded when I told him that I was going ahead with my current mortgage and there was nothing he could do about it.
In the UK its called a Mortgage Indemnity Guarantee (or MIG) and comes in all shapes and sizes. I too opted out of the sham as if the worst comes to the worst, and I can no longer pay my mortgage, I'll just upsticks and move to a cheaper (perhaps rented) accomodation. Why pay more when you don't have to?
Yeah that's true dude.. More impressed with this post.
My cousin just bought her first home and is absolutely BURIED in 'mortgage protection' mail! I see the original post was made a little over 5 years ago. Can you imagine teh feeding frenzy going on now?!?! Trust me, hopefully 'imagining it' is as close as you'll need to come. ;o)
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