I recently visited Chicago for my son’s birthday and was amazed by all the beautiful buildings
downtown. They all are within minutes of the lake front, with breathtaking views and the
structural builds are a sight to see. This opened up a conversation on living in one of the high-
rise condos there. I always loved big city living and dreamed what it would be like. My dream
home is actually a condo in Chicago, Illinois valued at $1,599,900. If I were to purchase this
condo with a 20% down payment, the interest paid over the term of the loan would be
$1,653,144.84.
(highrises.com)
Purchasing a condo downtown Chicago can be expensive compared to living in the suburbs
(Anas, 2018). Purchasing a home in the city in 2018 cost about $243 per square foot. To save
money, I would prefer to put down a larger down payment. Some advantages to putting down
a 20% down payment or more are smaller home loan balances, lower mortgage rates, and less
interest expenses (Lerner, 2022). I would want to save for a least a 35% down payment. That
would definitely impact the amount of interest paid over the term of the loan and save me
money. The new interest paid would be $1,470,948.63. I would want a much lower interest
rate from the current rate of 7.08% (Freddie Mac, 2022). Last November, the 30- year rate was
3.08% (Zilber, 2022.) 3.08% would lower the amount paid on this condo significantly. The
interest would be reduced to $554,650.51! The monthly payment would be reduced by almost
half.
References:
Anas, B. (2018, December 28). Is It Cheaper to Live in the City or the Suburbs? Apartment
Therapy. https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/suburbs-vs-city-cost-of-living-265646
Lerner, M. (2022, July 21). Do you need to put 20 percent down on a house? HSH.
https://www.hsh.com/first-time-homebuyer/down-payment-size.html
Freddie Mac (2022, November 10). Mortgage Rates. https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms
Ziber, A. (2022, January 20). Mortgage rates rise to highest levels since start of pandemic. New
York Post. https://nypost.com/2022/01/20/mortgage-rates-rise-to-highest-levels-since-
start-of-pandemic/
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