New home, new goals

When Michele and Kevin Ashley got married last year, they had two goals: A new home and children — ideally in that order.

After years of apartment living, in April they decided to begin casually looking for their first house.

"We were kind of not looking seriously and going to open houses," Michele says.

Even though both worked in The City, they kept their browsing to the Peninsula. Michele, 28, a communications specialist for Wells Fargo Bank, and Kevin, 31, a traffic manager for Adteractive advertising, both worked in The City but wanted their home lives to be more suburban in feel.

Casual house hunting turned more serious a month later, when they tendered their first bid on a condominium. It was accepted, ominously enough, on Friday, May 13th. But plans changed quickly when, on the same day the offer was accepted, they learned Michele was pregnant.

"In our story, Friday the 13th is a good day," Michele laughs. "We decided to back out of that offer and start again."

Indeed, just three weeks later, they did find the perfect nest for their new family — a 900-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-and-one-half bathroom condominium right on the Burlingame-San Mateo border.

The selling point, Michele says was its immaculate condition, its beautiful grand fireplace, a patio area for the baby on the way and the price — $578,000 in an area where older homes can easily run $750,000 or more.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.