Our primary objective in every mortgage transaction should be to borrow in a way that reduces debt, improves financial stability, and helps us get debt free in as short a time as possible!

At the young age of thirty-two, retirement is not much of a consideration, but when considering a thirty-year transaction it should be.

Focusing only on the short term puts us in a position to make bad choices. We ignore all other factors that lead to the overall value of the loan in order to achieve that one singular goal now—whether the goal is a lower payment, a lower interest rate, or a dream home. In the long term, this always proves to be costly.

We tend to compartmentalize our debt: categorizing our mortgage debt as one kind of debt, installment loans as another, and credit cards as still another. Most treat all person (consumer) debt separately from mortgage debt. The fact is that debt is debt. All of it is owed and has to be paid back!