The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Put 20% Down on My Home? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 9, 2023

Dave Ramsey & Dr. John Delony answer your questions and discuss:   "How should I think through caring for a father who drank himself into disability?", "Should I put 20% down on my home?", from the blog: What Is Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) and How Does It Work? "Should I use a HELOC to pay my student loans?", "What's the best way for me to save and invest money?" "Should we buy a house before we get married?" Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the pods, moving, and storage studios, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Dr. John Deloney, number one best-selling author, host of the Dr. John Deloney Show, and Ramsey's personality is my co-host today. Open phones as we talk to you about you right in front of you. The phone number is 888-825-5225.

The call is free, and some say the advice is worth exactly what you pay for it. Kyle's going to start off this hour in Indianapolis. Hey, Kyle, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call today. Sure. What's up? So, essentially, I'm 19 years old, and two years ago, my dad pretty much put himself

in a position where he drank himself to, I don't know if you guys have heard the term, wet brain. But it's pretty much a vitamin deficiency, and it causes pretty much permanent short-term memory loss. So now that's been going for two years, and there was a conservatorship and a guardianship, but we're trying to switch that, and we're not really sure what to do with it. Who's we? The whole family. I have two siblings, and then he has three brothers, and then my mom is divorced. Okay, so she hasn't got anything to do with him.

She's divorced, right? Right. And so who's got the conservatorship, his brothers? No, it's actually my older brother, but he is like the most irresponsible person there is. So my mom pretty much helps him do it all. And in fact, not really helps. He just, she just does it for him. Um, which we trust our mom, but that's, like you said, divorce, not really the best. Would your brother, are you, are you, do you want it? Do you want conservatorship? Do you want to take the lead on some of these decisions are you just frustrated by the whole mess

well i ideally would be either ideally it's me because i mean quite frankly i don't want to do my own horn but between his brothers and my siblings i'm probably the most responsible but i just and i feel like i'm 19. I'm trying to start a career in real estate. I don't really know. Yeah. Right. I don't know how much responsibility it is. So a lot, a ton. Yeah. Is your dad going to need long-term care? Is he able to care for himself in any capacity? He's in assisted living right now, and I mean, I don't know how much longer he has, quite frankly, because he pretty much smoked and drank his lungs and liver away, and now he's gained a ton of weight.

So I just don't know how long of a path this is. Okay, so if assisted living is caring for his daily needs, what will the conservator actually be doing? There's some paperwork that needs updated yearly, and then if he needs to move facilities, or if, from my understanding, if he does pass away or get close to passing away they ultimately hold that um the responsibility of what happens next and whatnot so i can't um kyle i can't tell if you are asking us a question or if you are wrestling with what about the conservatorship or if you were just simply wrestling with that the unfairness that you should have to do this yeah that gnarly paradox

between i love my dad and i want to take care of him and i can't believe that i'm in this position well yeah and that's kind of the last part of it is that I think as a family, as a whole, we all kind of feel like even if we all were responsible and were able to do it, we're kind of just mad at them. Like, why is it our burden to do that? Both and. It is what it is. Yeah. Yeah.

I hate that for you. So I guess, and then the last option would be able to give that responsibility to the state, but none of us really want to do that. But at the same time, it's been my experience that if, if you're making the choice to not,

um, if you're making the choice to not give him over to the state then you're making a choice to be a member of his a part of his life and if you're choosing to be a part of his life those flashes of anger and frustration that's part of the grieving process that's normal that's i miss my dad you and i can't believe he hurt himself like this because his actions now are going to ripple through his family for generations. That's all real. And every moment you choose to dwell on what happened in the past versus what we got to deal with what's happening right now. And then what can we make of this?

And what happens next in my career, in my life, in my education too, is a choice to be miserable in the present. I don't want that for you. Do you get what I'm saying? So if you turn him over to the state, you dust your hands off and you walk away. Okay. If you choose to keep him, and every day you wake up and you're pissed off at him,

you are choosing to have the most miserable road ahead. So the, the, the, the only way it would make sense to move forward, I think I'm hearing, uh, if you move forward, regardless of why,

but you have got to commit to this whole situation, not taking up all of the real estate in your brain. Cause otherwise you're going to spend all your time ruminating and dealing with this and talking about what some conversation you can't have with a guy that's not there anymore and so that involves two things one is it involves i'm going to very much compartmentalize this and it's going to get 10 percent seven percent of my brain to actually cause the assisted living to occur, to cause hospice to occur later, and to plan a funeral later.

And the other thing is I've got to really get with my pastor and walk through the process of forgiveness and set this down so that it doesn't take up all of your brain. If it takes up all of your brain if it takes up all of your brain it's it is completely unfair to you and i would i would turn if you cannot do that and i don't know if i could have at 19 kyle but if you cannot if you cannot do that then you need to also clear your brain by letting someone else do it other than you you do not have a moral or ethical responsibility to take this on at 19.

You have the option to do it, but you do not have the mandate from Scripture or society for a 19-year-old to fix his dad who drunk himself into the point of being an invalid. And in fact, legally, your brother has that responsibility right now of being an invalid and in fact legally your brother has that responsibility right now right now nope yeah your brother has it legally but you don't have the the weight of you have to do this or you're a bad guy that's not there so the only way you can move forward is if you set enough of this aside that you're that you still have more than enough room

to have a great life in your brain and sometimes the best thing you can give your dad is to take care of yourself and to get about living your life too sorry you're facing this one yeah it's hard this is the ramsey show សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Ed is next in Tampa, Florida. Hey, Ed, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, gentlemen, how are you? Better than we deserve. What's up?

So I got a real estate question. I am 26. My wife's 26. And we are about to purchase our first home. Awesome. We're about to purchase our first home, that is. And got pre-approved recently. And I'm struggling with understanding what to do here so they I was quoted for putting 20% down on a home and 15% down on a home and on a 15-year fixed and my rate for

20% down is higher than my rate if I put 15% down. That makes no sense. And I don't, I agree. And that's what I'm trying to figure out why that would be and which direction I should go. You should talk to Churchill Mortgage and get a quote and then ask them if they give you the same thing. That's why on the flip is this? Because I know of no logical reason that should occur

as a matter of fact when you put 20 anointment are you dealing with an fha loan or a conventional loan conventional okay with 20 down you will avoid pmi private mortgage insurance which will amount to about uh threequarters of a point. I mean, it'll amount to a lot. It's about $75 per 100,000 borrowed per month. Yep. And so not having that with 20% down is a substantial savings. I mean, it's like $200 a month if you're borrowing $300,000. And the interest rate should be exactly the same either way.

But putting less down would normally cause you to have a higher interest rate because it is a higher risk for the mortgage company. That's what I would have thought. And they said that the lender that – so we're – it's a new community being developed. So it's the preferred lender of the builder. Oh, whoopee. I prefer not to use this lender. So there.

It's not the preferred lender of the buyer. They're on the same boat. Yeah. No kidding. Yeah, I think – I don't know what they're doing. preferred lender of the buyer. Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, I think I don't know what they're doing. I honestly have no idea. Did they give you no logical explanation for the higher rate? Basically, what she said is that when someone puts 20% down

and the bank is no longer charging them pmi they still view that as a higher risk than if someone put 15 down and they do charge them pmi well that's just not true okay because the whole purpose of the reason PMI is there when you put less down is because it's higher risk. That's why they make you get it. Private mortgage insurance pays the bank if they lose money in the event they have to foreclose on you. It does not insure you in any way. It insures them against you getting foreclosed on and them losing money. That's what PMI does.

There is no PMI at 20% down, and the reason is, industry standard is, is they're very unlikely to lose money. So, Ed, I'm going to ask Dave a question. Dave, is there a possibility that – I think there's a profit motive here is what it is. Right. So is there a possibility that – or actually a risk that when you're over 20% and you ask for your PMI by law, they've got to take it off, but then they no longer are insured against that loan?

They do not have insurance without PMI on a conventional loan. There's no insurance. So it sounds like this mortgage company is saying, we don't want to do loans that aren't insured. No, because they're selling the stinking loan. It's a Fannie Mae loan. It's going to be bundled up anyway? Yeah, they're going to be bundled up and sold on the secondary market. That's weird, man.

Yeah, it's a conforming loan. It conforms to a set of guidelines so that it can be bundled and sold. And so I think it's a local mortgage company that thinks he's got a fish in a barrel because you're buying this on a new site. And they're the preferred lender. Okay, I prefer not to get overcharged so i'm going to prefer to use somebody else check churchill and see if you can find out what's going on there may be something i don't know here but i don't think so i mean i've been doing real estate for 40 years so um this is weird it's very weird uh yeah and if you have the 20 down i would put the

20 down rather than pay the extra 200 a month month per $300,000 borrowed for PMI that gives you absolutely zero benefit. So that's why we suggest 20 percent down on a first time home buyer. We lighten up and go, oh, if you want to do five or 10 or 15, that's OK, because it gets you into the house. But the downside is you're going to be biting the bullet on that PMI. But I mean, that's a lot of money. So it makes no sense at all, Scott. I mean, you're, I mean, Ed, I'm sorry, you're asking the right questions. And the best way to keep people honest is get another bid. So go to Churchill Mortgage, talk to them, and they can take care of you in Tampa for sure. They've been an advertiser with us for 30 years. And that team, Mike Hardwick and that team do a great job hey man

thank you for calling in i wish it was easy but it's good i wish i knew the answer i don't i don't i don't but i agree with you on the frustration i think you're getting the run around some way or another but maybe there is something i don't know yeah keep keep keep pushing till you learn scott's with us in milwaukee wisconsin hey sc Scott. Hey, Dave and John. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. How can we help? So I'm on Baby Step 2.

I have $136,000 in student loans and was wondering if using the equity I have in my house to, in about four or five years down the road, either refinance or take out a HELOC to pay off that student loan when it becomes an option. Well, you didn't pay off the student loan. You just moved it onto your home. If you don't pay a student loan, they don't foreclose. If you don't pay a student loan, don't move that around yeah if they don't if they don't uh if you don't pay a student loan they don't foreclose on your house if you don't pay a haylock they foreclose on your house

you just increased your risk you just put your house on the line for your stupid student loan no thank you sure even like refinancing to uh to a 15 year well again you just you just put your house on the line for the student loan you didn't pay it off dude you just moved it you understand right yep and you pay it off means that you don't owe it anymore anywhere you moved it with more risk yeah yeah so what's your household income about 100 cool good for you how old are you uh 33 and four kids. Good for you. She stay-at-home mom full-time or what?

No, she works part-time. So what's your total household income? $100,000. Oh, the $100,000 includes her. Okay. Yeah. How old are the kiddos? One, four, 11, and 12. What do you do for a living?

Physical therapist. Good for you. You paid a lot for that. If that's all you on PT, you got hammered. Okay. Most PTs I know are making more than $80,000 a year. Is it your market? What's the deal? It just started.

Oh, it just started. Okay. I bet bet didn't you yeah so base salary of about uh 70 uh when did you start and i work i work weekends when did you when did you get out when did you get your pt 2018 so about three and a half years now yeah okay yeah you're gonna you're but john's right you're gonna you should see ten thousand dollar bumps along the way here pretty quick as you get some experience. And you got the ability to add some hours, except for the fact you got a bunch of littles at home.

But the, yeah, tear into this thing. I want you to just get, just roll up your sleeves and go bust your butt, stay out of restaurants, no vacations, and get this thing knocked out. And then when your house is paid off, it's paid off. You didn't have a big butt student loan over there hiding behind your mortgage, acting like it didn't happen. It's a form of financial denial. And I'm going to help you, Scott. I've been right where you are and didn't know what to do.

We've got the answer. It's called Financial Peace University. And if you'll hang on, I'm going to pay for it for you and your wife and your four littles. And I want you to go through this class. It's nine lessons. And we're going to jack you up, jazz you up, and teach you what to do. And if you'll go do exactly what we teach,

you should have this paid off in about three years. This is The Ramsey Show. so Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Jake and Kate are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hi, Dave. Doing great. Great.

Happy to be here. Honored to have you. Where do you live? Cleveland, Ohio. O-H. I love it. I love it. Good to have you guys.

How much debt have you paid off? We paid off $223,034.16. Wow. How long did this take? This took us 36 months. Wow. And your range of income? We started at 70, went up to about 100,000 to 200,000. Okay, that works. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a safety manager for a local government. Mm-hmm. And my wife? I'm a director of operations, marketing, moving into events. Ah, very good.

But I also have a side hustle, a construction company, which that's what took that from the $100 to $200. Whoa. So you're making more money on the side hustle than the whole stinking deal. Yeah. Yeah. Good for you guys. Yeah. Well done. When you show up to do safety inspections, do you say, I'm on the side hustle than the whole stinking deal. Yeah. Yeah, good for you guys. Yeah. Well done.

When you show up to do safety inspections, do you say, I'm from the government and I'm here to help? No. Well, we know that doesn't work, so. All right, just wondering. What kind of debt was the $223,000? We had two vehicles. We had a few credit cards. My school loans. And we paid off our house.

Oh, look at the weird people. Okay, how much of the $233,000 was the mortgage? $70,000. Oh, so the student loans were the big dog. Yeah, $126,000 in the school loans. Oh, wow. Wow. What happens when the student loan is larger than the mortgage? You knock them both out.

That's right. I like it. That's right. Good for you guys. Well done. Well done. How long have you been married? 11 years.

Yeah, 11 years. I'll catch him first on that one. Underhand pitch here. That was a lovely white thing you just did. Yeah, that was nice. That was very sweet. It'll be 12 years in May. We are on TV, so yeah.

On May the 4th. Close. So what happened three years ago then? Because you guys have been doing this the other way for a long time. Yeah, Dave. What woke you up? Well, first of all, I wanted to mention that what's important about the date today is 22 years ago to the day today is when I started dating my

bride. Wow. And, uh, and, and, and so who would have the irony of that, that, that we would be in this journey along the way that we'd be back, you know, and, and, and be on the stage and be able to share our story. Yeah. Um, and we didn't pick that date. It was assigned to us. So kind of crazy. Just our first date. Who would have thunk? Well, the people in the booth, they do detailed research on people, and they Googled and found that's when you started dating. No, I'm kidding.

Cool. I'm glad it worked out. Yeah, but the reason is our little fellow here to the right, Jackson, is our son is really what ignited us for us for us okay so he's three he's three correct okay so kid kid comes and you go whoa just got real boom yep yep and we got after it we realized that you know we wanted we we live in a nice community but we want to get to somewhere where we can really put him in the in another community where it was good for him growing up for school. I mean, that's just been on our minds.

So we said, you know what, we've got to do this now. We've got to get after this right now. You did get after it. How'd you get plugged into Ramsey? Yeah, we actually did Financial Peace University at a church. Our teachers, Jorge and Kayla Pena up up in cleveland ohio yeah um instructed us um we started in september i mean we were bringing him to class when he was three weeks four weeks old yeah but jake started a while back he started in 2010 after we got engaged to try to get the

ball moving yeah i actually i took it in orlando florida when i was living in orlando and then they shipped me to a job site and i was trying to do it more so FaceTime and that wasn't working out. So Kate, were you holding him back a little bit? I was because I had the answers. What I was doing is what I know and was comfortable. So, you know, I didn't want to be uncomfortable. Yeah, that's funny. We were just talking about that. We were just talking about that. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Way to go, you guys. Way to go. Proud of you. How's it feel to be free?

House and everything, you weirdos. It's surreal. It really is. The food tastes better. The house looks nicer. It looks shinier. It feels good. It's ours.

It's really ours. I mean, when we paid that house off, made that last payment, I was looking at the ceiling on the house, and I'm like, it was a different was a different look it was like man this is mine now you know and um god's calling us to something greater it's not so much about ourselves now we've taken care of that so now we can provide for our son no payments in the world and you can be outrageously generous that's right yeah very very very cool so what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is well i think i think the one thing dave huge is is the budget and really um getting on a a plan um we still do our every dollar app where every dollar on the app and and we still have weekly and daily meetings i would tell her hey we went over in this

area we can't you know we we gotta we gotta cut this back you know next month or you know this month whatever so um staying on that budget not letting don't not getting distracted by outside noise you know there's a lot of people that had their views on how you should do this and how you do that we were focused on the goal and we went after that and um you know that's we we knew what we the end goal what we wanted to get to and not be afraid to take on a side hustle yeah i mean i i started this this construction business from the ground up and i just went after it and you know like i said just kept kept the the mind on the target, you know, so. Are you running this construction business with cash?

Yeah, I paid my dump truck, my trailer, all my equipment, it's all cash. There's no debt in the business. Way to go, man. You are so far ahead of the game on that one, man. Wow. Incredible. What's the house worth?

$220,000. Yeah, and how old are you guys? I'm 39. I didn't think about it 38 38 39 so you're not even 40 100 debt free and so easily 45 years old you're going to be net worth millionaires easy well i you know i another uh part of the journey you know the the think and grow rich that i've been you know they were at that definite purpose that i've been you know they brought that definite purpose that would that's that's part of being want to be a millionaire by 45 so you're going to be there i'm on the goal the math says you're going to be there yeah great way to go guys

so proud of you well done hey we've got the live and give bundle for you that's the total money makeover book the baby steps millionaires, both number one bestsellers. Enjoy them or give them away. And a membership to Financial Peace University. Since you've been through it, you'll probably be giving that away. And let's bring Mr. 3-year-old Jackson up so he can enjoy the debt-free stream with his mom and dad. A quick note on this little guy.

He also is an inspiration because we had quite the fertility journey to get him. So God has blessed us immensely. So we're pumped to give back. And we can't wait to celebrate with him. He does look like a blessing. He's love. Beyond measure. Right?

Well done. Well done. All right. Jackson, Kate, and Jake. Cleveland, Ohio. $223,000 paid off in 36 months. Making $70,000 to $100,000 to $200,000. House and everything before they're 40.

They're weirdos. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Okay. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! I love it. Well done, you guys. Now, little Jackson has no idea how much of a hero his mom and dad are. No. They have changed his life in ways he has no concept of yet. He's going to miss out on being the ringside seat to some knockdown drag outs because they won't have them. Yeah, they won't be having the money fights, The number one cause of divorce in North America today.

And more so than the money fight is the money simmer, that tension that just stays in your house all the time that then fights erupt from, right? Yeah, the constant boiling just below the surface. It makes everybody feel crazy. Yeah, and you go, what's wrong in here? I feel it.

I can feel it in the air. I grew up in that. And yeah, most people do. Yeah, most of us do. That's the air we breathe growing up and developing our brains and our bodies, and he's not going to have that. And then we wonder why we're anxiety-ridden in this culture. And then your dad's going to give you a sledgehammer and say,

get to work, son. You're going to be way ahead of the ballgame, brother. Shovel. Shovel out the dump truck. There you go. There you go. I like it. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, America.

This is the Ramsey Show. Jordan is next in Greenville, South Carolina. Hi, Jordan. Welcome to the show. Hey, how's it going? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, yeah, so I was asking, or wondering if I can have some financial advice here. I'm a traveling nurse making a decent amount of money. And I was having a conversation with my girlfriend last night and she'd mentioned that she had Roth IRA and she has about 15,000 in it after about

two and a half years. Although she didn't know too much information about it, her dad kind of helped set her up. I make about $2,400 a week after taxes, and I'm just throwing it into savings. I don't know if I should be throwing it into somewhere else or what I can do to set myself up to be more successful in the future. Good for you. Good for you. How old are you? I'm 28 between April.

Excellent. Good work. Okay. Well, do you have any debt? I have a truck. It's about 40 000 uh or right now it's about 38 000 and then student loans total about 60 okay i would tell you to clean those up before you start your long-term investing and clean them up really fast because you just started travel nursing and you start making bank and so quit acting like you make it throw it all at these debts because you got a hundred thousand dollars in debt hanging around your neck

right and yeah getting rid of that in in the next two three years would be like the most powerful thing you could do to build wealth that would be your first step then when you finish that the next thing we teach people to do is build an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. We call that baby step three. The next baby step is baby step four. And so at this point, we're probably, you know, two to three years from today, okay? Because you're doing these other things first. Then you start putting 15% of your income into retirement at baby step four now that would be a roth ira and are you paid on 1099 yes sir okay so you're self-employed so you qualify for another thing called a sep ira which as of this year you can also do as a roth you can do a

regular individual roth ira and you can do a seEP IRA, and I would tell you to put those all in good growth stock mutual funds. And if you click at ramseysolutions.com, you could meet with a smart investor, which are brokers for mutual funds, financial advisors that don't work for me, but they do the stuff the way I teach. So you're going to get advice consistent with what you're hearing me say and hearing us say here at Ramsey, and they'll help you get everything set up and get that going when it's time. But you can save a lot of money, and if you don't have any payments, it'd be easier to save money.

Agreed? Agreed. Yes, sir. I was questioning the paying off the truck as far as traveling. My plan was to just trade it in every couple of years because I need something for reliability if I'm going to be traveling. It's pretty much going to guarantee you're broke your whole life. Okay. Doing that. Okay. Understood. So let me help you with this.

If you're traveling and you're using an expensive vehicle to travel in, whatever you drive at 40 or 50 000 miles a year you are destroying its value right and so how much do you want to destroy 60 000 or 20 000 understood and so if you trade up into 60 000 trucks every three years and start the destruction process again actually the truck isn't destroyed you just destroyed its value because 120 000 120 000 mile 150 000 mile truck by the time you get ready to roll it over after three years um you know you you just pull it up on um kelly blue book and see what they do the miles just just tank the value and so you've got to do you've got to this is your overhead in

your business travel is your overhead and you want to minimize overhead to maximize profits and so you need to drive the least expensive vehicle for travel nursing that if you want to leave the truck the driveway that's okay but you need to drive the least expensive vehicle for travel nursing that'll get the job done get the job done means you get there because it's reliable and you don't have to go the chiropractor because you weren't driving a smart car i mean so you gotta have something reasonable but you do not have to have and should not be driving a 65 000 vehicle when you're a road warrior i i just am imagining the conversation he's gonna need to have he might just take his wife out to a nice dinner this is a girlfriend girlfriend and sit down and say you were dating a truck guy you're now dating a camry guy

and uh driving a used honda guy you are yeah driving an old accord telling you you get a camry or a honda accord that's got you know outlast you it's two years old and you pay you know you pay 15 20 000 bucks for it you run that puppy in the dirt and if you want a nice truck that's okay just leave it in the driveway because you're just freaking hammering it on value. And just I'm going to trade ever so often means you're just increasing the amount of dollars that you're losing. Not to mention, I mean, you pick the vehicle with the worst gas mileage you can imagine, too, right? If you're driving all over creation. Yeah, anyway.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah. But nice truck nice truck yeah it's a cool truck man it's a cool truck it's gonna oops yeah i just called about the ira please don't sell my truck sold sold it's gone the lesson here is never ask financial advice for your girlfriend that's that's the meta here i think she set you up why don't you call dave and see what he says boom rand for matthew is in nashville hey matthew how can we help hey uncle dave hey dr john delaney how you doing guys great brother what's up uh quick question is uh me and my fiance are about to get married here in June. Yay! We're going to combine our finances at that point.

Good. We are both debt-free. She has $20,000 in her savings. I have just close to $100,000 in mine. Good. We are debt-free, of course, and we're wondering if it's a safe time to buy, even though the housing market has gone up substantially. It's going to continue to go up.

Every year you wait, it's going to be more. Right. Obviously, we had 20% down. Yeah, you got great down. Our income for the whole year is roughly around 120 good for you you guys are doing so good man way to go good start well i mean you got two options one is you could buy after you get married uh two is you could rent for six months and then start looking and buy that's actually has nothing to do with the economy of the real estate market

that's actually wiser because it takes about six months to know how close to your mother-in-law to buy you got to get you you'll buy a different house six months after marriage than you would buy six days after marriage because you get to know each other better and you get to figure out that whatever she wants she's going to get you get to figure each other better, and you get to figure out that whatever she wants, she's going to get. You get to figure out these things, right? Correct. Yeah, we've been together for seven years. Doesn't matter.

You weren't married. It doesn't matter. Does it matter? When you were married, that's when it changes. Yeah. Correct. Correct. She's going to be real close to those.

I would continue to pile up cash and rent for six months and spend all of my energy being a newlywed not looking for houses or hanging curtains okay yeah currently our lease ends in october so it's okay that's not quite six months not quite six months but you know start looking uh in august and september and find something to move into in october yeah and matthew i live in your in your city and i'd i'd buy a place tomorrow if my wife needed to move into in october yeah and matthew i live in your in your city and i'd i'd buy a place tomorrow if my wife needed to move i wouldn't think twice about it as far as the economy goes economically yeah yeah and the price of housing or whatever it's not going to go down there's a shortage of housing and so uh yes i know interest rates are up yes i know the

economy sucks yes i know eggs are more than gold. I understand all that. But housing is not going down in value. Still not. Because things go up or down in value based on simple supply-demand economics, and we have a shortage of housing, not an oversupply. When they go down is when you have an oversupply. And we do not have that. Builders have frozen like deer in headlights, quit building like crazy. Builders are all standing around looking at each other going,

let's have coffee. And even the builders are waiting on stuff to show up and supplies and no windows and no wood and all that stuff still. Yep, still shortage, shortage, shortage, shortage. And the economy slowed down, but the buyers slowed down too. And so, yeah, you're fine. I would buy in October is what I would do. Good question.

And congratulations, sir. Hold on. We're going to put you guys through financial peace university as our wedding gift for you guys and uh that that way you know in a few years you'll be like baby steps millionaires and you can blame dr john deloney for that and uh you know it's all because of dr joel i'll take that blame yeah there you go hey guys uh we got our Building Wealth live events coming up. Starting next week, February 16th, we'll be in Indianapolis, Austin, Texas, February 23rd, Salt Lake City, April 24th, and Anaheim on May 2nd. Tickets are only $49, and your four-pack is starting as low as $175. Check out the tickets at ramseysolutions.com slash events.

It's all of the Ramsey personalities in different ones of us, albeit every one of them. Come out. We'd ramsaysolutions.com slash events. It's all of the Ramsey personalities in different ones of us, albeit every one of them. Come out. We'd love to have you. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Dr. John Deloney. If you like what you heard in this episode and want to know more about getting started on the Ramsey baby steps, go to ramsaysolutions.com and click on the Get Started button. We'll help you figure out the best next step for you based on your specific situation. That's ramsaysolutions.com and click Get Started.