site banner
PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1782 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for January 30, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Who here makes extra payments on his mortgage? Or has a paid-off house?

I make extra payments, and looking through my amortization table just now I was incensed to learn that a full 75% of all of the reduction in our loan balance is solely due to our extra principal payments! What in the scam? (Edit: I guess I have to clarify that I am not retarded and do not believe that a 30-year mortgage is literally swindling me through nefarious trickery.)

Further, to say nothing of the compounded benefits, we have a present-day benefit in the form of $2,000 of saved interest, and we're still very near the beginning of our loan term! It's obvious when placed next to an amortization schedule that assumes we only make necessary payments.

(2/1/2026 Loan Balance)minimum payments - (2/1/2026 Loan Balance)extra principal - (sum of extra principal paid) = ~$2,000

It's amazing how quickly an amortization schedule gets insanely front loaded as rates go up. I have a sub 3% mortgage, in the first year my principle to interest ratio was about 2:3, maybe 4:5. In one more year, the 6th year of my mortgage, it will cross 1:1. At current market rates for the same amount, it starts off 1:4 or 1:5 and doesn't cross 1:1 until the 225th payment, 18 years in.

I don't make extra payments. A high yield savings account offers better return than paying off my mortgage faster. Now if it were a 6% mortgage, I'd probably be throwing as much as I could at it.

I have a worse rate than your hypothetical one unfortunately. What a difference a couple of years make.

Yeah, my wife thought I was insane. The federal reserve was spouting some bullshit about inflation being transitory, and I was ranting and raving "They're lying! We need to buy a house NOW if we are ever going to." Caused some friction the first year or two, but boy howdy have I been vindicated since.

I made the same argument at the same time, but bought a bit later than you for life reasons. And then recently had to spring for a new one because my 3bed/1 bath wasn't large enough for the family.

Thing is, it mostly turns into a zero sum game. When rates were low, people could make crazy offers on houses because their monthly payments were so low. Now that rates are high, there's less competition and prices...well, they didn’t go down, but they also didn’t go up as much. And you can just refi in 5 years. I think you would've been fine buying a bit later.

My brother, on the other hand, who bought in the early-mid 2010s has seen his home triple in value...

Thing is, it mostly turns into a zero sum game. When rates were low, people could make crazy offers on houses because their monthly payments were so low. Now that rates are high, there's less competition and prices...well, they didn’t go down, but they also didn’t go up as much. And you can just refi in 5 years. I think you would've been fine buying a bit later.

Eh, "fine" is relative. Sometimes it feels like I really got the last house I could have gotten. We spent all spring 2021 looking, things were drying up by summer, and the noises the fed were making were increasingly concerning. One year later rates had nearly doubled. At the worst of it, when rates were topping 7% and prices were still going up, I would have been looking at a mortgage getting really close to twice the one I had. Now it's a mere 50% higher. Then again, I got a house which had plenty of room to grow, and I'm not at risk of needing to climb the "housing ladder" any time soon.

I'm building equity in the home incredibly quickly, because I pay down the principle so much quicker, making it easier to buy a new home when I have to. And the money I pocket with a lower mortgage goes straight into the S&P500 too.

I mean, sure, if I absolutely had to, maybe I could have stretched and gotten way less house for way more money with a far worse mortgage a year or two later and been "fine".

Instead I'm great, and it's a hell of a snowball effect.

Buy now or be priced out forever. Simple as.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats