Logical Eccentricity

I’m so happy today; I finally have a mortgage =) And I didn’t even need to go through all the trouble of applying for it, and everything else. With the government’s takeover of Fannie Mae and Freedie Mac, everyone now owns a small piece of all the mortgages owned by these two companies.

But the real i,pact on me is yet to be determined. How are mortgage rates going to react to this? I’m guessing that they are going to be a little crazy (increasing and decreasing all over the place for about a month) before heading noticibly downward after that. The takeover should result in greater stability in the mortgage market, hopefully increasing the amount of credit available and reducing rates. If rates do drop, it can only help me in my house hunting =)

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve started looking for a new place to live. This Saturday I went to another open house. I visted a new developement, gut renovation of a warehouse in Jersey City. Because this was originally a warehouse, each floor has 14 foot ceilings, with 11 foot windows; this makes each condo look bigger and the views out of the windows are impressive. Further, the price, including common charges and taxes, is well within my range for the area that I would be getting.

The problem with the place is once again the layout. The bedroom was nicely sized, you could easily fit more than just a bed in there. But as a result, the living room area was too narrow; it would be hard to fit a lot of stuff in there. There wasn’t enough space for my bar. But beyond that, since the walls have metal studs and not wood, it would be really hard to mount a flat screen tv on the wall. Thus, I would need a stand for the TV and with a couch, there would be very little space left.

It was worth getting another visit in. I know that the layout is going to mean a lot me, more than just the numbers. So, time to head back to the websites and find something else.

So, this weekend marks the start my house hunting in earnest. I’ve been looking online at a couple of websites, but on Saturday I actually went to visit one of the places at an open house. Honestly, it was disappointing. The rooms were pretty small, basically you have your bed in there, and not much more. Overall the place was big, but because of the layout, the space was not effectively used. The highlight of the place was the kitchen; granite countertops, with stainless steel appliances and cherry wood finished cabinets. Either way, it is a start, and we’ll see what place I find in the end.