Totally agree with this. I fell for the “lowest rate” trap a few years ago and barely broke even before I moved again. Those “miscellaneous” fees are ...

That water heater strap thing tripped me up the first time too. I remember thinking, “I’m not even in California, why do I need this?” But after that,...

Yeah, appraisal fees seem pretty set in stone. But I did manage to shave off some closing costs by casually mentioning another lender's better offer.....

Honestly, I wouldn't stress too much about credit monitoring specifically because of these new mortgage rules. Sure, tighter regulations usually mean ...

I get where you're coming from with PMI offering a bit of extra oversight, but honestly, I'm not sure that's really its purpose. PMI is more about pro...

Yeah, I've noticed similar issues with friends who've leaned too heavily on their home's equity. It's easy to get comfortable when the market's good, ...

Totally get where you're coming from. I was in the same boat a couple years back—had a mortgage hovering around 4.25% and every extra payment felt lik...