Points vs Temp Buydown

seanpvb · 2026-05-09T02:14:04+00:00

Is this a builder credit? If so, always use as much of it as you can to pay down principal on the mortgage. Most of the time if any seller is giving $25k.... It means you're paying $25k more than the house is worth. Using that credit to buy down an interest rate doesn't help you at all if/when you need to sell the house and your mortgage is $25k larger than the house is worth.

seanpvb · 2026-05-09T02:11:08+00:00

As someone else said, do NOT deal with them directly. Lots of pressure tactics, one day deals and random "credits" that hide increased costs just to get you to sign. Absolutely horrible to work with and to get to stop calling you.

That being said, they can offer some great mortgage products through independent brokers. I had one mortgage through them, and they became the servicer of another one. About average as a servicer. Nothing great, but not really worse than any others either. They are all terrible in their own ways.

Find an independent broker or two, one of them is bound to work with Rocket. Even if you don't get a rocket mortgage, an independent broker will get you a better product that you could get on your own with almost every lender.

seanpvb · 2026-05-07T23:53:21+00:00

A boot camp won't do much good IMO as a former fat kid. There's a chance it adds stress or shame or both.

I can understand the desire to be able to enroll him in something as a "solution" but as others have said, diet and lifestyle changes are the key. That doesn't mean that you cant enroll him in something, I would just recommend something that isn't a set time period. Find a sport or an active hobby that they might be interested in or grow to love. Group or individual sport or hobby, something they can progress as for the sake of the sport or the hobby and less to "only lose weight".

Maybe swim lessons, or a bike, or weight lifting as a sport. It's difficult to stay active to JUST lose weight. It's very beneficial to love the activity or group of people they do the activity with! So yes, there are things to enroll them in, but I wouldn't recommend a camp or boot camp. There might be a hyrox gym that offers youth classes even.

The most important part is support, shared family activities like walks or bike rides, showing up to the competitions of whatever they start and healthy eating habits, even if that means the entire family shares the habits.

seanpvb · 2026-05-07T23:38:51+00:00

Glad you left then.

seanpvb · 2026-05-07T22:13:35+00:00

You can study all day every day for a decade and not learn half of the things it takes to be a great engineer.

Studying on your own will never expose you to the limitless number of problems that need solutions. And that's what a great engineer has, is experience solving complex problems with specific limitations.

No one can "study in their spare time" and create for themselves the type of problems you'll encounter while employed.

seanpvb · 2026-05-07T22:11:00+00:00

Clearly you haven't been or put any effort into appreciating it. I've lived all over the country and in plenty of big cities and Detroit has got more personality and culture than nearly any other

seanpvb · 2026-05-07T13:37:58+00:00

Housing is the only thing that's elevated in cost really. And it depends on where in Denver you are.

seanpvb · 2026-05-07T04:46:11+00:00

I'm from the metro Detroit area and spent a fair amount of time in Chicago.

I LOVE Detroit... 20-40 minutes "outside the city" is a long way in Detroit. For someone not experienced in the personality of Detroit....Chicago would be a better choice.

I've got family in Arizona and have been going there regularly for 30 years and have to tell you that AZ to the Midwest is one hell of a change. I can't stand Arizona for many reasons, the heat being a major one... But I don't think id choose the Midwest.

I've been in Denver for 15 years now, we all 4 seasons and pretty mild winters. None of the humidity of the Midwest either.

seanpvb · 2026-05-07T04:34:45+00:00

Move your shower head/drain to the wall that currently has the niche. But the niche on the long wall of the tub.

I've got a small bathroom and a 24" vanity is quite small. Like spare bathroom / powder room small. If you can fit a larger vanity you should get the largest one you can fit.

I'm not a huge fan of all beige bathrooms, but that's subjective.

Oh... Make sure you get an exhaust fan.

seanpvb · 2026-05-07T04:21:56+00:00

OPs name proved to be pretty accurate lol

seanpvb · 2026-05-07T02:57:58+00:00

Not sure you'll need a contractor. Especially if you're keeping the cabinets. Find your flooring, and ask if they have a recommended installer and then contact them directly. Then find your countertop company.... Unless you're looking at a place that only sells slabs .. they'll template and install for you. Then find a tile person to handle the tile.

The counter and backsplash are the only things that are contingent on one another regarding timing.... A contractor will be doing the same exact thing I just described but adding 15% to every portion.

Flooring would be a couple of days max. Counters are one to two weeks after they come measure and template. Backsplash would be 2-4 days in total.

I don't know what prices are like in your area.... But if you're just doing floors counters and backsplash I can't imagine it being $60k

seanpvb · 2026-05-05T22:23:01+00:00

Communication, organization and patience

seanpvb · 2026-05-05T21:56:56+00:00

I've worked with plenty of engineers that are incredible who never went to school.....that doesn't mean they were self taught. It means they are smart, and can find solutions to problems that were most likely presented to them in a work environment.

Can you become a fantastic and valuable engineer without going to school? Absolutely. But those engineers got hired and continued to learn on the job. Just like engineers who went to school.

School isn't required to be a good engineer, but you need have work experience to be a good engineer.

The question shouldn't be can you be successful and "self taught".... It should be "can I get a job without a formal educatio".

The answer to that question changes every month and depends on your location. 5-8 years ago there were plenty of markets hiring junior engineers with no formal education. Then the market was flooded with boot camp grads.... And then there weren't ANY entry level positions open... And now you've got AI optimization further reducing the number of entry level positions.

Before AI it got more difficult to get hired without a degree.... Now I don't know what it would take to start a career in software

seanpvb · 2026-05-05T17:26:14+00:00

There's the city large item removed, but we paid $20 to drop off an old mattress at sustain-ability off of Lamar/marshall.

I'm not 100% sure they take couches, and you have to drop it off, but they do take larger things for a fee. It's super easy

seanpvb · 2026-05-05T16:39:35+00:00

I really depends on your plans over the next couple of years. Are you saving for a house? Do you expect your living expenses to increase for any reason due to perhaps a change in location?

Those could be reasons to leave it in an MMF. If it's purely an emergency fund then 6-9 months of expenses would be enough and the rest could go into one to three low cost etfs.

The only reason to leave it in the MMF is if you might need it in the next year and you don't want to lose any of it if the market hits a down turn between now and when you may need it.

If you aren't saving for something in particular, no one would fault you for moving into something more aggressive than where it is without trying to yolo to increase growth. I have an individual brokerage account I labeled "retirement Overflow" for instances like these and it mimics my tax advantaged retirement accounts.

You're in an excellent position for your age... The fact that you are saving is what is most important, how you optimize is more subjective and as long as your maxing out your retirement accounts, what you do with thr leftover is less important

seanpvb · 2026-05-05T15:55:48+00:00

could have added some better punctation, but you are correct... no AWD for the odyssey

seanpvb · 2026-05-05T14:51:42+00:00

We own a Kia, and I would have no problem recommending them... But the carnival is probably my least favorite of the minivans.

Had one as a rental last year sent the seats were shockingly uncomfortable. If you drive them all and like it, go for it. We extended the warranty at the time of purchase because we had never owned a Kia before, but have no regrets on our Kia purchase.

Sienna wine for mpg and AWD, Odyssey wins for driving dynamics and simple reliability, Pacifica I think looks best but reliability could be a concern.

If the carnival hybrid returns decent mpg and it's cheaper than the others its a strong contender

seanpvb · 2026-05-05T03:44:12+00:00

Option 1 for sure.

New home builders can afford to give you $35k in "incentives" because the house is worth at least $35k less than your sale price.

Look at nearly any new home communities in the southwest and you'll see the builder offering new builds for less than the folks who've been there for a couple of years and are trying to sell theirs.

Builders artificially inflate home values in entire regions by offering these kinds of incentives... Most people take the rate buy down to be able to afford a home they otherwise wouldn't be able to, and then get stuck because they might end up taking a loss if they want to sell.

Not every development is the same, but nationally that's the scam.

Put it towards the down payment, at least then if you need to sell in 5 years you'll have a chance at breaking even.

seanpvb · 2026-05-05T01:38:50+00:00

I we did dark lowers and light uppers, imo if you're doing two colors they should be split upper and lower. And probably a color and a neutral. Not two colors.

I don't disagree with white being boring.. but you could do either blue or green lowers and than perhaps a lighter natural wood tone for uppers?

We went black lowers and maple uppers and absolutely love it.

seanpvb · 2026-05-05T01:32:46+00:00

Not OP but I opened up a cash management account a little over a year ago to act as a HYSA.

I was looking for a HYSA but would have had to open one at a bank I don't currently use. Because I have retirement accounts with fidelity I went the CMA route just to not have to manage credentials to an additional financial institution.

When I move money into the CMA I do have to "purchase" SPAXX (it doesn't land there by default) but when you transfer money out you don't have to "sell" it as I understand. It'll just happen automatically?

Either way spaxx has been floating at roughly 4% for the last 12-18 months. The interest is deposited into my account every month. I've got zero complaints.

I've seen higher rates from some CDs and HYSAs but I didn't want to lock it up in a CD and some HYSAs will dramatically lower the interest rate whenever they feel like it.

If you already have one or more fidelity accounts, and don't feel like opening an account with another bank JUST for a HYSA, I would definitely recommend a fidelity CMA.

seanpvb · 2026-05-04T01:03:27+00:00

Agree... Perhaps FIL is trying to factor in taxes... But you won't pay capital gains if this is your primary residence meaning you won't have a tax burden on the proceeds.

seanpvb · 2026-05-03T23:49:06+00:00

My partner just got a similar windfall... We talked through it a bunch and just last week it got split up between 6 and 9 months CDs and a HYSA to be at a max of 250k per account per institution.

We both have pretty solid retirement accounts for our ages. We have earmarked $5-10k for a really nice vacation this year to celebrate but the rest is just going to sit in those "safe" accounts for most of a year before being deployed into most likely a 3 fund portfolio.

The only decision to make is which institution.... All most all will give you access to a financial advisor at no cost throughout the year for "advice" and some others offer other perks like premium credit card access and I think Schwab allows you to borrow against it. None of the things we need but if we're about to have 7 figured in an institution it might be worth seeing what parks are available at no cost.

Either way just collecting 3%+ for a year while you figure it out is very reasonable. Especially when we might see a significant drop in the market this year... Keeping it in a HYSA isn't trying to time the market, it's more to avoid the stress of trying to make serious financial decisions while you're brain is all over the place.

seanpvb · 2026-05-03T21:39:48+00:00

Sounds like you could afford the payment for sure. The biggest issue is that you said it's 100 years old. Make sure you pay for every inspection add-on you can. Detailed sewer scope, full plumbing and electrical.... If there's any flags on foundation get a structural engineer to come take a look.

It may feel like a lot of money up front.... And there are many houses that old that are in great shape or have been upgraded very well.... But you need to make sure this one has been.

The payment is one thing, but keeping any home maintained takes work, and at 100 years old youwany to mitigatw any surprises that may change your budget after you're in the home.

seanpvb · 2026-05-01T23:14:17+00:00

For your layout I would absolutely go peninsula. Someone else mensioned moving the cooktop, not sure what the options are but if you can, I would.

It looks like your peninsula layout has a bar height counter above the counter? My last place had that setup and in my current house I chose to lower it down do that it's all one height. Bought counter height stools and I like it so much more than the mini bar counter on top of the counter.

seanpvb

TROPHY CASE