UPDATE: Bartow County will be added to this service!

There are a lot of foreclosure listings available online, most of which require a paid subscription to find out where the property is located. However, there is a new service available called “My Early Edition” (www.myearlyedition.com).

MEE provides all the details you need to locate foreclosures in and around the Atlanta Metro area…for free. The service even goes so far as to not only give you the address, lender information, and current owner, but will also do a reverse look-up to give you the phone number(s) associated with the property.

Here’s a screenshot of one of the searches I did:

The site could probably use a little work on the interface (Sorry Dave! ), but it is free and it’s frequently updated. Plus, since it was created by one of my friends from college, I can tell you for certain that you aren’t going to get bombarded with special email offers once you create your account.

Plus, new features are going to be added that will make this a very valuable tool for those searching for a deal. So, sign-up now and take advantage of this site while you can.

I remember when my own parents were buying a house, there was always talk about 15 year mortgages vs. 30 year mortgages; but it didn’t really mean anything to me. Being as young as I was, I didn’t really have an understanding of compounding interest.

Things have changed a bit since then, but I still find that when talking about mortgages, and how much one can save you over another, it’s better to just talk turkey.

Using actual numbers puts a real face on the potential savings. Below you’ll find various types of fixed rate mortgages from 15 up to 40yrs. You’ll see I’ve also included some additional What If’s?; such as paying an extra $100 a month.

Our Constants
Original Loan Value: $145,000
APR: 6.4%

15 Year Mortgage
Total Interest Paid: $80,926.66
Monthly Payment: $1,255.15
Payoff Date: July 9, 2022

15 Year Mortgage + $100 extra monthly
Total Interest Paid: $70,409.39
Monthly Payment: $1,355.15
Payoff Date: October 9, 2020 (13 years)

30 Year Mortgage
Total Interest Paid: $181,514.08
Monthly Payment: $906.98
Payoff Date: July 9, 2037

30 Year Mortgage + $100 extra monthly
Total Interest Paid: $131,565.17
Monthly Payment: $1,006.98
Payoff Date: June 9, 2030 (23 years)

30 Year Mortgage + $200 extra monthly
Total Interest Paid: $104,590.13
Monthly Payment: 1,106.98
Payoff Date: May 9, 2026 (19 years)

30 Year Mortgage + $300 extra monthly
Total Interest Paid: $87,277.67
Monthly Payment: 1,206.98
Payoff Date: August 9, 2023 (16 years)

40 Year Mortgage
Total Interest Paid: $257,529.86
Monthly Payment: $838.60
Payoff Date: July 9, 2047

Mortgage Summary

The main things we can take home from the above is that:

• 15 year mortgages will save you the most money (even more so than demonstrated above because they typically have lower interest rates.). Compared to the 30year, the savings in interest will be about $100,500!

  Let’s assume for a moment that after you finish paying off the house at the 15 year mark, you start putting the same amount into a high-yield savings account (Such as the one’s I’ve mentioned here). At the end of the next 15 years, that’ll add up to $336,892.11 ($110,965.11 of which is just interest you will have accrued!)

• If you’re going to pay $300 extra every month over the life of a 30 year loan, you might as well switch to a 15 year loan and save yourself some money (~$7000) (Again, 15 year loans have lower interest rates, so it’ll probably be even better than that).
• 40 year mortgages suck. Sure, many 40 year mortages don’t come with 6.4% interest rates, but even still you’ll probably end up spending more than had you went with the 30year + 100 option.

Want to do your own comparisons? Try BankRate’s Mortgage Calculator.

One of the things I’ve needed to do for a while was open a savings account. But, I’ve held off simply because:

1. The majority of interest rates/APYs are pathetic. My local bank has an APY of 1.16% on a regular savings account. Sure, it’s passive income, but it gives the same feeling you get when you spot a penny on the ground.
2. The perceived time to set one up seemed to outweigh the benefits gained from opening the account.

However, after spending a brief ten minutes opening an account with HSBC Direct, I can say neither of those should stop anybody. There are several companies out there now that will give you a 4-5 times higher APY than what you would get at many local banks.

• HSBC Direct - 5.05% APY*
• Emigrant Direct - 5.05% APY*
• ING Direct - 4.00% APY*
• …just to name a few.

*Correct as of 6/13/07 6:00pm.

Plus, as far as HSBC Direct goes, the sign-up process is extremely easy and quick. Allowing for them to verify your account with a couple of micro-payments to your existing checking account, you’ll be up and going in about 3 days.

So, I’m extremely happy to finally be able to mark that off my list. Once that is setup, I’m going to look further into opening an account with Vanguard and investing in the Vanguard 500 (YTD 11.67% return). But, that’s for a later post.

In the meantime, hone your financial smarts at The Simple Dollar. It’s one of my favorite finance sites for a common sense approach to investing your money.