Bogleheads.org

I built my home gym in 2020, so I took what I could get. Rogue was taking orders for their vanilla R3 rack and shipping when they got it built, that took about 3 months or so.

For the barbell and plates I also ordered everything from Rogue. Mainly because their website supported Apple Pay, so I could 1-click order things. I lost out on several sets of plates before I figured that out, by the time I added them to my cart and went to checkout they were gone.

Since then I've added a trap bar for deadlifts, and a safety squat bar for back squats. I'm tall so using the high-handles on the trap bar is more comfortable, and an old shoulder injury means I can't comfortably hold a standard barbell in a back-squat position.

If the wireless headphones you have are AirPods, you can share audio from the same source. The article seems to imply that it only works with a second set (not a third or fourth).

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210421

Even if the roots may not be a problem, I would research how big the tree could get, even on a 'dwarf' rootstock. Most websites I've checked say a dwarf peach tree still gets about 8-10 feet tall. I had a semi-dwarf peach tree at an old house. The main limbs branched off the trunk about 3 feet off the ground, and it would easily put out new growth about 4-5 feet long each season. If I didn't prune it heavily I'm sure the tree would reach 15-20 feet after a few seasons. Not only is the fruit out of reach at that point, but the tree is also a pathway for critters to get onto your roof if it's too close to the house. I would suggest the book, "Grow a Little Fruit Tree" by Ann Ralph. In short, she suggests heavy pruning to keep fruit ...

I used what I am assuming is the same flooring in a bathroom (Mowhawk LVP from Costco) and was happy with the results. The first few rows are a bit tricky to get snapped together, but after that it's pretty quick. The issue was that tapping one board together would pop another apart until there were enough rows to hold it all together. I'd buy an LVP/laminate install kit that will have a tapping block, pull bar, and spacers to help with the install. The tapping block is to protect the edge of the LVP when you're tapping them together, the pull bar helps tap the end of a row together, and the spacers are help maintain an expansion gap around the edges. Other tips: 1) Make sure you read the installation instructions regarding moisture levels ...

I bought a Brother HL-L2340DW off Amazon back in 2014 for just over $150 including tax. We print a fair amount, but not tons, and the toner cartridges have lasted 5, 4, and 2 years (the two years is when I started working from home), and have run between $50-60. Absolutely no complaints other than the occasional issue with wireless printing, but I believe that's due to my home network (multiple access points, automatic firmware downloads to the access points seems to mess things up). That same printer is now $360, but I think it's just an older model or something. The 2300D is $120, and the 2350DW is $150. The only obvious difference is the 'W' model having wireless printing. Wireless printing is very convenient since you can print directly...

Hopefully this doesn't discourage you, but many cities don't have police automatically respond to home security alarms due to excessive false alarms. Everywhere I've lived someone needs to answer the phone when the security company calls after the alarm goes off to confirm that police are needed. And then after that there's the response time that depends on how busy and far away the police are. As others have already mentioned, there's no end to off-the-shelf home security systems that don't require any drilling or wire-pulling to install. I'm not sure if direct links are allowed, but googling 'DIY home security' will bring up all the usual companies. You mentioned living in an area where windows are left open overnight (no AC I'm guessing)...

I don't think I've seen anyone mention that in the event that the beneficiary gets a scholarship, you can withdraw the amount of the scholarship without penalty. You'd still need to pay income taxes on the withdrawal, but no penalty.

When this happened to me, I searched for the same car (identical model, trim, options, similar milage etc) on the various car selling sites (TruCar, Carmax, etc). The settlement offer included details of the comps they used (VIN numbers, dealer ad numbers, etc) so I could confirm if I wanted. It turned out that the value was a bit higher than I expected based on my own searching, so I was happy to take it. In my state, the settlement was taxable, but the added on that amount to the offer I wasn't the one paying the tax. It also included a refund of my DMV registration fees, which may not apply to your case. FYI, if you had car seats in the car, they are no longer any good. Even if there were no children in them at the time (there weren't in...

Ask your contractor about the mismatch between the thermal expansion of concrete vs porcelain, and if that concerns them. The CTE of concrete is over 2x that of porcelain, so if there's enough of a temperature change something will have to give. This would result in cracked tiles, cracked grout, delaminated tiles, or any combination of the above. Even if your current concrete floor doesn't have any cracking, the CTE mismatch could cause an issue. Schluter makes a product that is intended to decouple movement between tile installations and the substrates below. It's called Ditra (https://www.schluter.com/schluter-us/en_US/Membranes/Uncoupling-(DITRA)/Schluter%C2%AE-DITRA-&-DITRA-XL/p/DITRA). It only adds 1/8" of thickness to the fin...

If you want to go on a snorkeling trip to Molokini crater, and are staying in South Maui (Kihei/Wailea), I recommend Seafire: https://seafirecharters.com/ It's a smaller boat than most of the Molokini trips, and leaves from the Kihei boat ramp instead of Maalea Harbor. Also one of the faster boats so you get to the crater before most of the huge charters. The smaller boat also allows them to go to the back wall of the crater if conditions allow (I've been on that boat 4 times and they only did the back wall once). The 'downside' to the smaller boat is that they don't serve a full lunch. But you don't really need a lunch since the fast boat means you're back before lunchtime, so you can go somewhere else (with much better food, most likely)....

As others have said, the drive time from SF to LA on Highway 1 is just shy of 9 hours. The usual traffic and accidents can easily add 3 or more hours to this, plus whatever stops you're planning on making. Driving down there over 2 days sounds like a great idea, but then turning around and driving back the next day sounds nuts. I'm assuming you're planning on taking the less scenic route back on I5 to same time, but even then it's 6-7 hours minimum, so trying to catch a flight that night would make for a pretty stressful drive back. California is so big, you can't really treat it like the East Coast states where you can drive across multiple states in a few hours. Even if you were to spit it up between Northern and Southern CA, it's still h...

You mentioned being an adult fan of Disney, and wanting 2 days in the park/parks, but I only see 1 day for sure (with the half day in DCA as a maybe). Have you ever been to Disneyland before? Have your kids? How important is it to you that you do 'everything' there? Will you be coming back anytime, or is this a one-in-a-lifetime type trip to California? If no one has ever been, and you want to do everything, then one day in Disneyland and a half day in DCA probably isn't enough. When I go, we usually do a 2-3 day park-hopper ticket. This allows us to get nearly everything we want done, but we also live in northern CA so we go every few years (so not a big deal if we miss something). With the new genie system, and paying for extra fast passe...

Do you have sensitive skin? That could lead you towards a certain material ring. Did you like the feeling of the weight of the gold ring on you finger? Tungsten will be close in weight, and titanium will be about 1/4 the weight.

The silicone rings are cheap enough that there's no real loss if you buy one and don't like it.

Personally, I have 3 different rings:

1) Silicone band to wear if I'm going to be doing anything with my hands. Nice to have the flexible material if I'm moving my fingers around a lot.
2) Two titanium bands in different sizes. In the winter I wear the smaller size, in the summer the larger.

Together these were much cheaper than a ring made from a precious metal (gold or platinum).

I just spent a week in South Maui (Kihei/Wailea/Makena). If you find yourself down there I'd try any of these (some have West Maui Locations, but I haven't tried those) Kihei Caffe - They have a Lahaina location as well with a similar menu. I recommend either the Banana Macadamia Nut Pancakes or the Pork Fried Rice and Eggs. There will be a longish line for breakfast, but it moves pretty fast. When I went for a late breakfast/early lunch the line was much shorter and only took a few minutes. https://www.kiheicaffe.com/ Lava Java Coffee - Across the parking lot from Kihei Caffe. Small coffee shop that sells Maui-grown coffee. I'd grab a coffee that I drank while in line a Kihei Caffe. https://lavajavamaui.com/ Paia Fish Market - The night I ...

I've always sold my ESPP shares ASAP after getting them, so my experience my be different than someone who holds them for 18 months.

My companies ESPP plan lets me buy shares at a 15% discount from the lower of the opening or closing prices (pretty typical for ESPPs). The amount of the discount gets reported on my W2 and I pay ordinary income tax on that. So when I report the sale of the stock, the purchase price is the FMV price on the day of the grant, not what I actually paid. If I put what I actually paid for the purchase price, I'd be paying the tax twice. In the last few years, TurboTax has asked if my stock sales were part of and ESPP, and what the discount was, and calculates the taxes correctly.

Do you have a 401k with any significant balance? I bought at the end of 2020, and my wife and I each took out a $50k 401k loan for our downpayment. We moved into the new house and listed the old one. After closing we paid off the 401k loans, and also put down extra on the principal and had the mortgage recast. The main risks of a 401k loan are being out of the market while you pay it back, and if you lose/quit your job you may have to pay it back in full rather than over 5 years. We were confident that we'd have sufficient proceed from the house sale to payoff the loans in full, so our only risk was a big change to the market in the ~3 months we had $100k out of the market. It also seems that the rules around PMI, recasting and such vary fr...

If the quote from Lowe's was really $48,000, I would seriously consider IKEA kitchen cabinets for this project. I put them in my kitchen about 8 years ago with a similar looking amount of base and wall cabinets, and the total cost was under $4k, including quartz countertops. I did the cabinet installation myself, and the counters were done by a local shop IKEA contracted with. Some people scoff at IKEA, but the construction of their kitchen cabinets is probably very similar to what you'd see at the big box stores.

A happy medium would be something like cabinets2go. I think you get plywood boxes, more custom sizes through them, but at a higher cost. I haven't used them myself but have heard good things.

My company matches 100% of the first 3%, then 50% of the next 3%. So effectively 4.5% match if you contribute 6% of your pay. They also provide a true-up at the end of the year if my contributions reach the limit early. I've been at companies that don't true-up though, so you'd need to ask your plan administrator's about that. One thing I'd suggest you think about is truly "maxing out" your 401k. Lot's of people consider "maxing out" the 401k to be contributing the maximum that the company will provide a partial or full match to. But you can contribute $20,500 per year as of 2022, and this does not include any amount that the employer put in as a match. I can't tell from your initial post how often you're contributing (m...

One thing to keep in mind if you try to get a replacement through the home warranty is that you may not have any say in what model you get as a replacement. That unit looks pretty old so it's likely very inefficient, so they may be able to replace it with a less-efficient model than you would otherwise prefer. Depending on how much you need to use your furnace, the "savings" from using the warranty to replace could cost you in the long term. I had a similar looking furnace in my last house. The inefficiency didn't bother me since it was really only needed about 3-4 months of the year, but it was a single-stage furnace, meaning the flame and fan were either on or off (no medium settings). So the temperature in the house swung from ...

In my experience, the drain assembly is where the worst effects of the supplier saving money are seen. Ultimately, the issue is either how the threads are formed in the plastic (it leaves a seam along the surface of the threads and water can leak by), or the plastic threads aren't strong enough to compress the gaskets enough to seal. Both end up with a very slow leak that drips under the drain (slow like a few drops each time the sink is used). Not enough to really cause any damage, but enough to make me want to fix it. I now go right to an all metal drain assembly when changing faucets. The cost about $25 from the big box stores (which would add $50-75 if they supplied that same drain with the faucet). https://www.lowes.com/pd/Keeney-Chrom...

I'd open it up until you remove anything that the water touched. Then put fans on it to dry out. Maybe spray with Concrobium (mold control spray) before patching.

The amount of work to repair the holes you drilled is just a bit less than repairing a much larger hole. Still need to tape joints, texture, prime and paint. This way you'll be sure that everything is dried out.

If you insist on market timing, try it out for a while here: https://engaging-data.com/market-timing-game/. Over a dozen or so tries, my best result is about $5,000 below the return of a buy-and-hold strategy.

This may have already been mentioned, but all the ESPPs I've participated in taxed the discount as ordinary income in the year the shares were bought (there was a line on my W2's with the amount of the discount). So I paid the tax on that whether I held the shares or sold them. I always sold them as soon as possible, so my capital gains were typically minimal.

I'd look into an Aeropress: https://aeropress.com/. It's a bit more involved than pressing a button on a machine, but it runs about $30 so much cheaper. You also said you're interested in traveling light, they also have a newish travel version that's only 16oz.

Filters are about 1.5 cents each, so it doesn't get much cheaper than that.

Make sure they fully investigate and understand all benefits that are offered by the employer. A few I have had that not everyone fully utilized: 1) ESPP: Money is withheld from each paycheck, and at the end of the withholding period (every 6 months) company stock is bought at a 15% discount. None of the jobs I've had required me to hold this stock, so I always sold it immediately. If you do the math, the annualized return is 90% at minimum. If the stock goes up it's even better. Yes, you pay tax on the gains, but I'll gladly pay tax on a 90% return. See here for more detail: https://thefinancebuff.com/employee-stock-purchase-plan-espp-is.html. Some plans may require that the stock be held for some time before selling, so make sure to under...

Didn't read everything in the thread, but skimmed and didn't see it mentioned...

I'm glad my wife and I took out enough term life insurance to pay of our mortgage in our early/mid 30's. We've been fortunate to not need it, and haven't had any health issues that would prevent us from getting policies today. But we have one friend that was diagnosed with CHF if their late 40's, and another with colon cancer in their early 40's. Both are probably uninsurable now, where our annual premiums are around .1% of the policy.

Life insurance is very cheap when you're healthy, but it can become very expensive (or not available at all) with a single diagnosis out of nowhere.

I am replacing the 1980s toilet with 1.6gpf efficient toilets. Stopped watering grass. Aerated heads for all faucets. California is going to be in a severe drought this year. they produce them for the CA regs that flush at 1.28 GPF, or even as low as 1.0 GPF. So, if you are replacing, might as well go lower. Do those super low use toilets flush completely? If you have to flush more than once, there is no saving of water. I changed one to toto 1.28gpf. That was awesome and flushes well. No issues in 2 years. SO I am attempting the other 2 toilets now. Haven't tried 0.9gpf yet. I live in 1970s building. So plumbing from that era can be finicky, the lower one goes. Do note I was going from 4.5 and 3.5 gallon toilets from late 70's/80s. Anothe...

I see someone else already mentioned it, but I recommend High Sierra Showerheads as well. I replaced the 1.8gpm heads in my house with their 1.5gpm models, and it actually seems much more powerful. They use a clever design to achieve the low flow while also having powerful spray. Another benefit is that they are much less likely to clog than most other showerhead designs.

The only downside is how long it takes for the water to warm us due to the low flow.

This thread is a good reminder of why it's better to price your house too low rather than too high. Generally, the market will "find" the right price for one that's priced too low, while one that's priced too high will also find the right price, but it will take longer and almost certainly be lower. Also, $1M is a big threshold. Buyers use filters for pricing (among others) as they do searches on Redfin.com and the like, and OP would've gotten a ton more eyeballs at say $999K. Not all of those eyeballs would've been able to afford say $1.1M, but a lot would've been able to make the stretch. I recently went through this, but from the other side. Listed just under 1M (to make sure tons of people saw it), then over the course of the...

ruralavalon wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 6:28 pm Fidelity Small Cap Index Fund (FSSNX) is not an international stock fund, and is not a good substitute for American Funds EuroPacific Growth R6 (RERGX).

Ugh, typo again. I traded the Fidelity International Index (FSPSX) for the Europac growth (RERGX). The intent being to have international investment with a lower cost index fund.

FSSNX is the small cap index that I use in conjunction with the SP500 index (FXAIX) to approximate total market.

Doctor Rhythm wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 1:26 pm FSPSX is a good developed markets fund, meaning it does not hold emerging market stocks. Whether that matters is up to you. I would do the switch and keep EM stocks in another account. Turnover doesn’t matter in a tax-deferred account.

With regards to your US stocks, your 50% SP500 + 30% Russell 2000 fund mix tilts towards small caps rather than mimics the total US market. It would be closer to 68% and 12% to avoid tilts if that’s the goal. Or maybe your allocation table accidentally swapped the %’s between small cap and foreign?

Yup, I swapped the percentages between international and small cap. Should be 30% INTL and 10% small cap.

Thanks for the input everyone, just submitted the transfer for RERGX to FSSNX.

Hi Everyone, Looking for a quick answer to what seems to be a no-brainer to me, just wanted to bounce it off a few other people. I was looking at my 401k plan and noticed that they now offer an international index fund. Previously, they only offered an actively managed fund for international. I was invested with this breakdown: 50% - SP500 Index (this was previously a Vanguard index, but got transferred to a Fidelity index at some point (FXAIX) 30% - Small Cap Index (used to be Vanguard index, I think VSMAX, but is now Fidelity FSSNX) 10% - International (currently in American Funds Europac Growth, RERGX) 10% - Bonds (used to be Vanguard US Bond Index, now Fidelity FXNAX) The idea was too have a 90/10 split between stocks/bonds, a 60/30 spl...

I've had Quiet Cool house fans in two different houses and been very happy with both. Looking at the website for the Triangle fans, it appears they all mount directly to the ceiling, so they could be much louder than the Quiet Cool fans, where the fan is suspended from the roof and connected to the ceiling with a duct.

The climate you're in is also somewhat important. They work best in places where it cools down significantly at night (obviously) but also where the humidity is low. You don't want to have to run your AC extra during the day to remove a bunch of humidity brought in by the fan at night.

If you haven't already, post your experience on their Facebook page. I have some experience with Neato, and that was actually one of the more effective ways of getting issues resolved. If you've only dealt with customer support, it's likely that higher-ups in the company are not even aware of the issue.

What time of year did you visit Sacramento? I'm about 20 miles NE (Roseville), and it's supposed to hit 108 on Monday. If your visit was outside the May-Oct you might have missed the heat. It generally cools off at night and humidity is low, so it's manageable, just FYI. Others have already said this, but the CA weather you'll find in Sacramento is very different from the CA climate you'll find in SD.

As far as home pricing, the last year has been nuts. I bought a new build at the end of last year, and the same model is now priced $200k higher.

Two things to keep in mind with an escalation clause:

1) Make sure both realtor/agents understand the clause. I've read of nightmare scenarios where a house gets sold to someone else for less than the escalation clause would have resulted in.

2) By putting a cap on the escalation clause, you're essentially telling the seller the most you're willing to pay. What you would do if the seller countered you at the maximum value on your escalation clause (or even more)? This would not require them to show you a competing offer that triggered the clause.

Just went through a minor bathroom remodel, and a few things came to mind: 1) Paint Sheen - The flat/matte paints may not be best for a wet location. Condensation may leave water marks on the flat paint finish, even after drying. Cleaning spills/stains off a semi-gloss paint will be easier as well. 2) Home center vs. plumbing supply - I've found that home center faucets are just as good as the plumbing supply faucets, but it's the rest of the components that come with the faucet where the manufacturer gets cheap. The drain assembly being plastic vs. metal is the big one I've seen. I've had numerous plastic drain assemblies have tiny leaks after installation, and no issues with metal ones. Issue is usually the way the threads are formed on t...

Costco seems to usually offer a 3-item set of wheeled luggage. They can fit inside one another for storage, so the small one is probably about the right size for a child. Get a bunch of their favorite character's decals and let them decorate it how they like.

The set will probably have the ability for the smaller bag to strap onto the the larger ones for when they inevitably get tired of pulling it in the middle of the airport.

I looked into using IKEA for a bathroom refresh last year and decided against it, but noted the following, which might influence your decision. 1) One line had a solid wood cabinet, and the other had a particle board cabinet. I believe the wall hung cabinet was the particle board frame. 2) The finish of the drain was only offered in chrome. No brushed nickel, oil-rubbed bronze, etc. 3) They have a clever trap design to allow full depth drawers. This means that the if you ever need a replacement trap, you won't be able to get one at the local hardware store. So if it end up leaking, you can't use the sink until you get one from IKEA. I've also heard plumbers say that the trap design looks like its more likely to form clogs than a standard si...

If you're happy with VTI, it can be approximated with the Vanguard 500 Index, Vanguard Mid-Cap Index, and Vanguard Small-Cap Index, which you have access to in your plan. https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Approxi ... ock_market.

JS727 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:34 pm We live in the Sacramento, California area.

I live in the same area, and I'm dreading the water bills to keep my lawn alive this summer enough that we're having our lawn removed and replaced with turf.

I'm already seeing reports of water restrictions this summer, so keep in mind how much water you'll need to keep a freshly planted lawn alive through the summer.

Just to re-iterate what has already been said, I would double-check that withholding for "married filing jointly" is appropriate for you. If you and your spouse make a similar amount of money, you'll probably end up under-withholding (and possibly owing a penalty on top of that). The withholding for "married filing jointly" kind of assumes one person is the breadwinner, and the other is stay-at-home (or making much less). When my wife and I both started new jobs after getting married, we filled out our W4 for MFJ, and ended up owing almost 14K due to under-withholding and penalties. We had to change to single rate withholding, plus having an additional $200 each withheld to make it work for the next year. After having ki...

I stayed there in 2013, my experience is pretty much on par with what others have said. It seemed older than the other resorts nearby, room was nice but nothing special. I've been to Maui 2 other times, and actually preferred renting a condo that had a kitchen and laundry to staying in a resort. I certainly enjoyed the local restaurants, but I also enjoyed a casual bbq on the patio of the condo I stayed in. Having the option to due laundry can also greatly reduce the amount of clothes you need to pack (leaving luggage space for souvenirs on the return trip). Also, with resorts they try to keep you on-property the entire time. It can be a bit of a PITA to get to the valet, get your car, drive to another resort, valet park there, etc. Having ...

Here's good summary of the ROI calculation for a typical ESPP program: https://thefinancebuff.com/employee-stock-purchase-plan-espp-is.html I say 'typical' in that it's been how the ESPP is run for a few companies I've worked at. Summary is: 1) Up to 10% of each paycheck is held back each pay period 2) At the end of each 6 month window, company stock is purchased at a 15% discount of the lower of: a) Stock price at beginning of window b) Stock price at end of window 3) Stock can then be held, or sold immediately. If you consider that only 1 contribution is held for the full six months (and one is only held for a few days), the equivalent annual return is over 90%. And this is if the stock stay flat, or goes down in value over the 6 month pe...

I had a decent experience with having a bathtub and the tile surround refinished before a home sale. The bathtub had some crack in the enamel, and the tile surround was just dated. Cost was around $1k in a HCOL area. They had lots of examples of fixing grout that looked like yours, not sure what they could do about the cracked tile though. If it cracked from something being dropped on it, then they could replace them with a tile of the same size before refinishing. But if it cracked due to the floor below moving, any replacement tile will just crack again. Hard to describe it, but there's something about the look of it afterwards that makes it obvious that it's not a fresh tile job. So if the rest of the house is pristine and up to date it ...

I'm supposed to be closing on my house sale in the next week or so, and should be getting a check for nearly $700k, and I'm curious what the best course of action is. My quick calculation is that about $80k of this will be taxable after exemptions for my wife and I, and whatever other exemptions our tax adviser recommend (we probably have $20k or so in improvements to the home). Bio Him: 39, engineer - salary ~$150k Her: 40, nurse - ~$90/hr, currently working about half time, planning to increase as kids get older Kids: 7 and 4, no plans for any more Debts: New house: $550k @ 2.75% 30 year fixed - PITI ~$3000, ~$80 of this is PMI Car: $20k @ 1.9% - about 3 years left on loan His 401k loan: $50k - used as downpayment on new house Her 401k lo...

Are you sure your contract says that sale price will be lowered if it appraises for less than $315k? Or does it say that you're willing to make up for a $15k appraisal shortfall? The first case means you get to buy the house for $15k over the appraised value, the second just tweaks the appraisal contingency value. Rather than the house needing to appraise for the offer price, it now needs to appraise for the offer price, minus $15k. As a seller, I would never agree to that deal. What if the appraiser is lazy and pulls bad comps, or is ignorant of a hot local market? Or in a worst case scenario, what if the appraiser is unethical and accepts a kickback from the buyer for a very low appraisal? There's no lower bound on the sale price with thi...

Carefreeap wrote: ↑Fri Jan 29, 2021 10:13 am
The HELOC balance will definitely count in the DTI equation but the OP may have enough income for the three loans for it not to be a problem.

I do find it interesting that post 2008 a lender would agree to a 100% financed purchase with apparently no PMI.

I do have PMI, at least until I sell the old house and pay down the new mortgage a bit. But the PMI was because I only put 10% down, not because the down payment was technically financed as well.

exodusNH wrote: ↑Thu Jan 28, 2021 2:00 pm One to keep in mind -- if you change jobs, the 401K loan is payable immediately. If both companies agree, you can transfer the loan, but that seems to happen rarely.

If I wasn't planning on paying it off soon after selling, I would have been much more leery about a 401k loan for my down payment. Knowing that I'd be paying it off inside of 6 months made it an easier decision. If it was for a first home purchase (with no plan to pay it off right away), I probably wouldn't think about a 401k loan.

Trakl wrote: ↑Thu Jan 28, 2021 2:23 pm
Also, Carefreeap and hitechburrito, the credit union fella said, "The new lender won't want you to borrow money for the down payment, but drawing on a HELOC isn't really borrowing; it's accessing equity you already possess." I thought that was and interesting way to think about it. Sounds like hitechburrito's lender had a completely different view.

I still don't understand the distinction, but they said since the 401k was borrowing from my own assets, it didn't "count" when they did the debt-to-income calculation.

They also told me that a HELOC defiantly would count as additional debt. Evidently, different lenders have different rules.