All Forum Posts by: David Yamamoto

Most likely no tax difference, unless the annual interest amount approaches your standard deduction of $12k ish.

All being relatively equal, I'd take the path of fastest removal of her from title.   Good luck and sorry you're facing this @David Yamamoto

My and Wife special in this area, we have tons of free content on our Page and our YouTube on the options you mention, and we try and cover the good and bad of each. I don't want to provide a link as it will be seen as self-promotion and taken down, but if you google my The Gifford group, or divorce buyout calculator, our website or YouTube should pop up. 

I just made a loan comparison tool that will show you the difference between what you have now and what it will look like with the new loan, as well, it might be as bad as you think.

Good luck, you can reach out, and I can personally walk you through it as well. I have been in your shoes, and we have personally helped over 300 people walk through a divorce options when it comes to the house. 

You could analyze the interest expense differential if you wanted to geek out but this is mostly going to be a behavioral decision up to you, no right or wrong only what's optimal in your case.  

Look at your prior filings, we have to jump to a conclusion that you itemize.  None of us can know your complete picture to tell you much more.   

I personally prefer flexibility but having structured amortization does provide discipline if principal reduction is an optimal outcome for you.  

I think it's tough to answer that for you.  What is the difference in monthly payment on keeping the 24 years compared to resetting to 30 years? Also depends on your school of thought.  I personally like the lower monthly payment because you can always make an extra principal payment a year and knock down the life of the loan anyway, but you're not obligated to the higher payment. 

First off, sorry to hear that you're going through this.

That being said, we can't really answer this for you. This is all about what you're comfortable with and what your long term goals are. The 24 month option- Do you want a shorter loan? Can you handle the extra monthly payment? 

I would really love to give you insight but at the end of the day, I don't know your financial situation/goals. These are questions that only you can answer. 

I will at least give you a small nugget from what I would do. I would go with the 30yr route because I will have a smaller monthly payment BUT nothing says that I can't pay it off in 24 years. The 30yr would give me a little wiggle room in payments so just in case I had a couple months where living expenses went up, I would still be comfortable.

There is my two cents. I wish you all the best! 

@David Yamamoto, 

1st of congrats on thinking about house hacking. Hopefully the tenants will cover the majority of your mortgage. 

All the advice here is great. 

The only thing I would add is about the screening part. 

My wife and I house hack in the California and the 1st thing we do is have a facetime or video call with the potential tenant. If there is a good fit ( i.e sleep and work schedules align, cleaning habits etc... ) then we ask if the tenant is interested in seeing the place in person. 

That'll give you two touchpoints with the potential tenant. Once the house tour is completed, then we ask the tenant if they are interested in applying to be a tenant and send them the background/credit check application. We use Transunion for that. Transunion collects the $35-$40 fee directly from the tenant. If the credit and background check is good with you then we send a lease agreement to the tenant. 

Hope that gives some additional insights. 

David