30 due in 10 mortgage

I was looking through my money magazine and noticed one of the ads about mortgages. I have heard of 30 due in 10 year mortgages, but never looked into it. This ad was fairly descriptive. It stated you can get a $200,000 loan at 6% and 2 points for a monthly payment of $999 a month for the first 120 months then the remaining 240 months would be 1432.86; the first 10 years payments would be interest only and there would be no negative amortization. Minimum fico score 671. That $999 is definitely cheaper than my rent. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many places here in Orange County, California that sell in that range. OK, really nothing. I have seen a few condos in Long Beach, Fullerton, Santa Ana, and even Irvine starting in the $250,000 range but they are not really places I would care to live in. Again, you can do a quick search on Craigslist to see what is available. From what I have seen, most of the places are either too old or too small. Also, as far as the loan goes, I always liked the idea of having only a 30 year fixed. That way there are no surprises.

There are plenty of houses and condos I could afford in the inland empire area, such as Corona or Riverside, but I don’t think I could do the commute anymore. On top of that, the weather here in Orange County is so much cooler by about 15 to 20 degrees. I know people who love the sun would love those areas. It is like Palm Springs sunny +100 degrees weather. I think Orange County is great and just needs more rain to make it perfect. If it rained like it does in the Northwest, I would actually make this a permanent place to live.

One area I have always been curious to live in is Florida. Housing is cheap. You can really get nice high rise condos there for great prices. But whenever I watch the news about their weather, I remember why I don’t even consider that area. Yes, it does rain alot but their massive storms with gail winds seem to tear down all the buildings. I know in California we have earthquakes but I don’t even think it compares. I get a feeling we are due for a big one soon just to remind us to be prepared.