The Terrifying Reality of Long-Term Unemployment

Re:The Terrifying Reality of Long-Term Unemployment by snowwrestler on Monday April 15, 2013 @06:41PM (#5554940)

Let's say I take out an $80,000 mortgage to buy a $100,000 house--which then appreciates to $120,000.

If I sell the house, I walk away with $40,000 in cash, which I can keep tax-free (a special privilege accorded the capital gains on your primary residence).

Now let's say I want to buy a home the same size--it's $120,000 too. But I only need a down payment of 20% to secure the mortgage--that's $24,000. So now I'm back in a house the same size as I had, but I have $16,000 tax-free in my pocket.

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Re:The Terrifying Reality of Long-Term Unemployment by drcube on Monday April 15, 2013 @11:33PM (#5556069)

Before, you had $80k in debt, now you have $96k in debt. You basically just took out a home equity loan.

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Re:The Terrifying Reality of Long-Term Unemployment by snowwrestler on Tuesday April 16, 2013 @12:02AM (#5556170)

Yup; I also could have just refinanced the first house at the higher appraisal. All three are good reasons for a homeowner to be happy their home value is going up.

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