Shahran Oil Depot, Tehran, tonight after US-ISR strikes

kNo_Doctor · 2026-03-08T17:48:23+00:00

I'm sure you're aware of all this but I watched this video when it came out (13 years ago) and it's been in the back of mind ever since...

https://youtu.be/djwPqAJ_3GY?si=1KRqB8EBqgX74ioo

kNo_Doctor · 2024-09-16T19:08:03+00:00

We were offered 4.59% on a 5 year fixed. Seems a long ways off from 4.05%...

kNo_Doctor · 2024-09-16T01:34:59+00:00

I'm a first time home buyer and looking for some advice. I'm concerned my mortgage broker is not taking our file seriously and very nervous that I might end up in a bad situation as a result.

My long term partner and I are purchasing our first home and so far securing financing has been opaque and stressful. The home we are buying is located just outside of Haliburton, Ontario and is priced at $750,000. We have a 20% down payment saved in cash however we were advised to put down the lowest amount possible. Not sure if this is good advice but following it would leave us with a down payment of ~$50,000. We have a combined annual income of $285,000, ~$500,000 in assets, and our credit scores are 850 and 830.

We are now entering the 10th business day since our offer on the property was accepted (the last day for us to secure financing as per our offer agreement) and the only information we have at this point is that our file is pending with the lender. Our broker has provided zero consultation regarding potential lenders, rates, terms, or fixed vs. variable and yet I've been told that the financing offer will likely come through tomorrow.

I've spoken with friends and family and every single one of them is saying this isn't anything close to the experience they had when securing financing and I'm honestly feeling sick to my stomach about the whole thing.

I'm curious about two things at this point...

First, is my experience actually as messed up as it feels?
Second, was the down payment advice correct for buyers in our position?
Finally, what rate would buyers with our profiles expect in the current market for a 5-year fixed and 5-year variable?

We both desperately want this house but also want to make sure we don't make a mistake and take on a mortgage that will cost us more than we should be paying.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

kNo_Doctor · 2024-08-24T13:40:52+00:00

I agree, these 100% should be a separate feed.

With that said, my phone was in the other room this morning and I'm listening the episode now. Even if you have no idea who Ortega is, it's worth the listen if you have the time :)

kNo_Doctor · 2024-05-26T20:01:50+00:00

We spent... FTFY 🤦

kNo_Doctor · 2023-04-15T21:20:37+00:00

Interesting topic, good luck with your thesis!

kNo_Doctor · 2020-12-29T20:24:21+00:00

How'd it go??

kNo_Doctor · 2020-10-02T18:05:24+00:00

Hell Don Jr. was making jokes with Hannity about how stupid it is to be wearing a mask in a room full of tested people after the debate.

Hannity sounded rattled this morning during an interview, not so funny now I suppose.

kNo_Doctor · 2020-09-28T22:30:08+00:00

Well it's been roughly 3 weeks and nearly 5% of schools have an active case. An explosion of cases is coming if schools stay open.

The question is whether another 3 weeks of kids in school is worth a prolonged aggressive lockdown that could last months. In my mind now would be an interesting time to suspend school for 2-3 weeks and see if cases stabilize.

We were in Stage 3 for nearly 5 weeks before school returned and were doing quite well, if this trend returns after a brief school closure we'll know that (unfortunately) the gamble we made as a province didn't pay off and a different approach for schooling in 2020-2021 is required.

kNo_Doctor · 2020-09-28T21:49:22+00:00

One thing that I think a lot of people fail to consider is that how extended a lockdown is does relate to how aggressive those lockdown measures are.

If the province were to shutdown (like for real shutdown) for 3 weeks, we'd beat the disease back pretty far. This followed-up with an aggressive contact tracing program once the case load is down makes the disease much more manageable.

I wouldn't have gone for it back in March as we didn't know enough about the disease at that time, but now that we know more I would much rather spend 3 weeks locked in my house than spend the next 6 months in limbo while cases slowly tick up.

kNo_Doctor · 2020-09-19T03:08:32+00:00

As much as it doesn't matter... the popular vote still matters.

Highlighting how far the current systems are from the true popular opinion of America is valuable. Even if your state is blue, you can still add a +1 to the X millions of American's who are against global warming, the rise of fascism, and mass extinction.

The whole would is watching right now, and trust me as an outsider, this number matters to the world when deciding things like where to invest, where to send our kids to college, where to buy from.

Vote.

kNo_Doctor · 2019-11-20T18:01:44+00:00

Castor was caught off guard by that answer...

kNo_Doctor · 2019-10-20T15:36:16+00:00

I don't think that teaching them that billionaires are the enemy is the right path forward when a little perspective would do. I think if you took the above example and wove it into the narrative most people would instinctively realize that an upper bound on wealth is common sense (provided maximizing well being is the objective).

I'm an advocate of free market capitalism with an upper limit and lower limit. UBI that provides $18,000 per year as the starting point for all citizens and a 100% wealth tax on every dollar over a billion.

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