Originally Posted by capin

All reasonable considerations.

The one thing I would change is that I would have taken a 30 year mortgage rather than a 15 and invested the difference in some kind of IRA or savings vehicle.

Originally Posted by tht

You don’t have to... but you can choose to...

My concern was that with “employment at will” and visa tied to job that was not a risk I wanted to take. That said if you can rent your property and cover the costs you can keep it even if you leave. I see so many people here buying and then selling to “upgrade” or “build their dream home” after only 3-5 years owning.. and often the closing costs of the sale and new purchase wipe out much if not all of a gain...

And yes when you strip out inflation, a rate close to 2.5% on a 25-30y mortgage is basically free money. Just did a refi on Friday and considering one on another property.

Originally Posted by tom169

Employment at will, especially in a larger corporate setting, is not that big of a deal. Still difficult to let people go unless there is some gross negligence.

Originally Posted by tht

was going to say that rate seemed low for a 30y 4y ago... but not today...

Originally Posted by capin

I would refinance but I plan to be out of here by mid 2024 so probably not worth the cost and hassle.

Originally Posted by TexanScot

That would depend entirely on what rate you're on, what you would be moving too and what your refinance costs will be.

My refi was sufficiently good that I'm going to be coming out ahead in about a year.

Originally Posted by tht

Not sure what state you are in, but your definition is not the one I understand for NY:
https://www.labor.ny.gov/workerprote...ds/faq.shtm#15

I can’t speak to policies of specific employers of jobs with unions, but I know it’s much easier here than back in the UK, I have seen people walked same day here, and having the run the redundancy process in the UK which took months it’s night and day with here.

Originally Posted by XaviasUS

Yes the VISA is 3 + 2 (It is 3 years and 2 years extension - it is the extension I have been denied at but as yet I haven't received the paperwork giving me the reason). My 3 years was up, they filed for extension and it is only now getting processed/replied to, that is the extra time, it's actually 3yrs and 7 months- it got denied. No job change, if anything I have more responsibility but fundamentally I do the same role as when I originally got my L1b.

Very confusing and hoping it is just an obvious error but its the seriousness of "denied" and you just have to leave the country with little time to tie up loose ends. I have been getting assured by my attorneys that it was all very routine at this stage and when I queried anything I had to give for example RFE it was dismissed as no big deal, but clearly it was a big deal.

I was hoping someone on the forum had such an experience and had some recourse in changing the denial and how that process worked.