Category Archive 'Housing'

Using Excel’s built-in amortization table

Excel function tutorials, Housing

Thanks to our nascent house hunt, I’ve been trying to back into figures on mortgages and monthly payments. Luckily, Excel has a handy just perfectly suited for this purpose.

Here’s how you get to the template in Excel 2007 (which according to my recent poll is the version most readers use, if only by a hair).

In Excel 2007, go to the “menu” button (the goofy-looking windows symbol in a circle) in the upper left-hand corner. Click on “New”. This will bring up the following window:

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Still suffering from Bay Area housing price sticker shock

Housing

A fixer-upper in Burlingame, CA priced at $1.1M

According to its description, 'needs work...but great value!' in Burlingame, CA, priced at $1.05M

We’re a few weeks into seriously starting to look at the Bay Area housing market (as in actually going to open houses and going on trips with our real estate agent to get to know neighborhoods).

Although we’re starting to get a bit more accustomed to prices of houses in the area, I still can’t get my head around the idea that a basic 3bd/2ba house will likely cost nearly $1M. These are houses that would run in the low hundred thousands anywhere else, let alone in Tennessee, where I spent most of my childhood.

We’re basically looking for a solid house that will retain (or possibly even appreciate) in value over time and that doesn’t involve an unreasonable commute time to my work; nothing fancy, and we don’t even care if it’s new, although not having to cross the Bay every day would be nice.

Here’s what I’ve been able to pick up so far from our trips:
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