Buying my first home involved more decisions than I expected: the contract, title registration, the mortgage, and renovation. Of all those things, the mortgage worried me most. Back then, I thought of debt as something to repay as quickly as possible.
Buying a home involving an inheritance
The apartment I was preparing to buy was part of an inheritance-related sale. I had to look into the heirs' rights, and one heir lived abroad, creating additional questions about documents and authentication. That was also when I first encountered the unfamiliar term apostille.
I no longer remember exactly which document needed which form of authentication, so I do not want to turn my recollection into a procedural guide.
While learning to read the property register and searching inheritance law, I encountered the absence of public faith in Korean property registration and a disturbing court decision. A buyer who had completed a normal transfer still faced a title dispute arising from family relationships that were difficult to discover.
The property in that published judgment was entirely different from the apartment I was buying. Still, it made me wonder how far an ordinary purchaser could reasonably investigate.
Related readingWhat If a Property Register Cannot Guarantee Ownership?The surprising inheritance case I encountered while learning property-title due diligence, and the questions it raised.
Why I chose equal-principal payments
I compared equal-principal repayment with equal-total-payment amortization and chose equal principal.
The initial payments would be higher, but the loan balance would fall faster, with generally less total interest under otherwise identical terms. At the time, that mattered most to me.
The early payments were demanding. Yet seeing the remaining balance decline was reassuring. I associated having less debt with greater financial safety.
Looking back, I gave less thought to the cash I would no longer have available each month, and how much I ought to keep for emergencies or other choices.
Why I passed up a 30-year fixed rate
Some of the offers I compared included a 30-year fixed rate. I expected interest rates might fall, so a mortgage that recalculated its rate after five years seemed more appealing.
When rates later rose, I regretted that decision. I had imagined the benefits of falling rates more clearly than the burden of rising rates.
What I overlooked while reducing the balance
I also managed transaction-based interest discounts through card spending and salary deposits. Amid my focus on repayment, I did not fully appreciate that those discounts were limited to five years.
It was only as the reset date approached that I understood what I had missed. That first mortgage would change the questions I asked the next time.